The Legend of the Swords
by Umi-chan3
Summary: A 3000 year old Prince has returned, and he's stolen someone dear to Umi's body. While the Knights fight an enemy with an entire world at her disposal, Ascot fights for the freedom of his body so he can finally tell her. UA, FF, HE, please review!
1. The Tasks

Disclaimer: You know, MKR doesn't belong to me, virtually nothing does.

Couples: Umi and Ascot, Fuu and Ferio, Hikaru and Eagle, Lantis and Primera, Caldina and Lafarga.

Notes: Clef is a loner and still short, sorry Clef and Presea fans. If he's not with Umi, he's not with anyone in my mind. That's the way it is. Did you know that in some parts of China (because girls are killed to be replaced by boys in some societies) that they ran out of women, so the woman can have multiple husbands? It's true.

Feel free to flame the writing, content, etc…but please don't flame the couples. Really, I try to keep everyone out there happy, so if you're not happy with these couples e-mail me a request (love new story ideas) or read one of my other stories. Other than that, enjoy! ^.^

**__**

Legend of the Swords

Chapter One: The Tasks 

"Do you love him?" she asked with a calm smirk on her face.

"Of course," the Magic Knight answered.

"Then you'd swear to love him and solely him forever? To devote yourself to him entirely?" she questioned as her long fingers gripped the chair…or was it a throne? she was sitting in. She was getting anxious as she seemingly sat on edge, ready to spring at any moment.

Fuu thought for a split second before she responded, "If he promised the same to me."

Her smirk bent into a cool smile, and she nodded, "Good, very good answer. That takes wit, which is not easily come by, especially in beautiful girls. Especially these days," she frowned, then nodded. "Proceed to the next task." 

Fuu woke with a start and rubbed a sweaty palm across her forehead. She had been having the same dream for a month now, but she never came to the next task. Maybe she needed to go to Cephiro…did the answer lie there? 

§§§~~~

The heat was intense as she tried to push the smoke from her eyes. When the smoke had cleared but the heat had not, the Knight saw a quick flash of the friends she was looking for, tied to a wall in a burning house. Then, she was pulled to the ground by ferocious paws. She ripped at the claws that ripped at her flesh. She screamed in agitation when she couldn't summon her sword and grabbed a piece of flaming lumber despite the searing pain. She knocked the huge animal out and ran to her friends without even a thought to the identity or future actions of her attacker. "Eagle! Lantis! Primera!" she called, coughing through the smoke and running forward blindly.

"Good, courage is a very hard-to-come-by skill, and you can't learn it either. You'll serve, for now. Proceed to the next task."

But, like Fuu, for Hikaru the next task would not come, no matter how long she tried to sleep. She would always wake at the end of the dream.

§§§~~~

She was being pulled down into murky depths, by something enormous. She kicked and bit and struggled to rip free but couldn't. Her lungs began to fill with water as she tried to breathe. She was going to drown. Suddenly, her mind kicked in, and she flung herself down to the creature in a last desperate attempt to free herself from its holds. Her eyes opened despite the salt, and she managed to kick the creature right in the folds of what some would call an elbow. She swam hard to the surface, not even thinking about the thing that was lurking at the bottom. She burst onto the surface and filled her starving lungs with air. 

A woman appeared in front of her and smiled mercilessly, "Fine, strength is an overrated quality, but by law and custom I must let you pass to the next task."

§§§~~~

"Guys," they were driving to the Tokyo Tower for their normal Sunday visit when Umi brought it up.

"Hai?" they looked over to Umi, who was in the driver's seat of her silver jaguar. 

"For awhile now I've been having a really strange dream. I think that the answer may lie in Cephiro."

"The answer to the second task you mean," Fuu said softly.

"So you've had it too," Hikaru looked at the floor.

"What does it all mean?" Fuu stared at the Tokyo Tower that was slowly coming into view.

"We should see Clef as soon as we get there," Umi suggested, and they nodded in agreement.

§§§~~~

When they had arrived at the Tokyo Tower they all formed in a circle and held hands. The floor lurched underneath them and started to give way, but when they opened their eyes they were still in Tokyo.

"Huh?" Hikaru was stunned.

"Why…are we still here…?" Umi asked, slowly opening one eye.

"I'm not sure," Fuu was stumped. "Well, let's try again."

They agreed and closed their eyes once more. 

This time, when the ground lurched the kept Willing themselves to Cephiro, harder than they'd ever tried before.

Slowly the portal began to open, and they were falling down to Cephiro.

They smiled and waited for the flying fish to catch them, but it never did. Instead, they landed on a soft pile of what appeared to be snow…only it was warm.

The three Knights looked around them and tried to figure it out but couldn't.

"Where are we?" Hikaru demanded irritably. 

"We're nowhere in Cephiro," Fuu pointed out.

"That's for sure," Umi muttered and looked around them. There was nothing in sight except for a group of rocks far in the distance. "Maybe we should see what's over there."

They agreed to this, but when Hikaru took one step forward, she fell into a drift three feet deep. 

"Hikaru!"

"Hikaru-san!" 

Umi and Fuu each grabbed one of Hikaru's arms and pulled her back onto the snow-like substance they were standing on.

Umi took one step in the opposite direction, closing her eyes as she did. After a minute, she reopened her eyes and saw she was still above ground. Hikaru and Fuu stepped beside her and looked around warily before Fuu took a step to her left and found it was solid as well. Hikaru went forward from there, but fell once more. Umi and Fuu helped her up, and she quickly turned left to find it was solid.

"It's a puzzle," Fuu whispered and narrowed her eyes.

So they went about this for a long while, forward, left, right, fall, forward, fall.

Umi sighed, exasperated and soaking wet from falling so often, "We're only getting further away!" she whined, and Fuu nodded. Umi knew she was in deep thought, so she ceased her complaining and waited for Fuu to explain her thinking.

In a moment or so, when she had figured it out, she turned to the other two. "I think this isn't magic; we're walking on something. So, all we need to do is to melt this snow, but the snow is warm, so I think if you use your magic, Umi, and spray Water over this, it should go away."

Umi nodded, "Mizu no Ryu!" Water in the form of a Dragon fell from Umi's fingers and covered the area in front of them. The Water-shaped Dragon ate away at the snow and soon they saw they were walking on a high, wide, metal sidewalk. It took many twists and turns, and then they saw their task wasn't over yet. 

"It's a maze," Hikaru whispered as the Dragon disappeared, leaving their playing field ahead of them. 

"Just what I thought," Fuu nodded. "It's the second task."

The other two just stared at her as the realization hit them as well. 

For the next two hours they followed Fuu as she led them through twists and turns and dead-ends and drop-offs. They trudged wearily forth until they saw a straightaway to the cave. Their strength was renewed, and they were chatting merrily when a huge cat appeared, blocking their exit. 

They tried to draw their swords, but they couldn't, and the cat sprang, first on Fuu, then on Umi, clawing at their flesh. 

"No! Fuu-chan! Umi-chan!" Hikaru plunged forward, without thought of herself and began to kick and hit at the cat that recoiled on her. 

Umi stumbled up and thought about nothing but defeating the enemy in front of her as she closed her eyes and summoned her sword, using all of her Will to do so. 

The sword appeared in her hands as she ran forward, running the big animal through. 

It disappeared, and in its place the woman from their dreams appeared, "That was slow, very slow, I'm disappointed in you three. You didn't even use magic on my kitty. What a pathetic bunch. And you call yourselves Magic Knights!" 

"Why are you doing this?" Umi demanded.

She smiled cruelly, "Because war is brewing, and I'm testing you for your swords. I want to see if you'll fail like they did so many years ago. _They_ called themselves Magic Knights, the protectors of Cephiro. They didn't protect their Prince from me, and they didn't protect his son either. Well, now the tides have turned, and the Prince is coming for you three. I would let him kill you, but for the fact you three are very dear to me alive. You three will bring me from the exile I've lived here and bring me glittering back to the Palace of Cephiro," she laughed her wicked laugh, and three swords appeared in front of her. "Take them, and we will be one. I'll show you power such as you have never seen before."

"Never!" Hikaru shouted, stepping forward.

"Then choose the hard way! It's all the same to me. See you tortured and take them, or see you take them willingly. It all ends the same," she snapped back.

"You can't do anything to us that will change our minds!" Hikaru's words were challenging, but Fuu quickly found the fault in them and winced when she picked it up.

"I can't do anything to _you_ huh?" her eyes twinkled as Fuu rushed to fix it. 

"Or anyone else. What do we care about people of Cephiro? That's all that you can touch. Our friends, family, love interests are on Earth. You can't hurt us." 

"Good try, bravo," she clapped twice before putting her menacing look back on. "You really…no, almost…no…well…it was a good effort. You would have really had me going if I didn't know you or your reputations or your history. I might have believed you then, but no…I know much, much more than that." 

"You leave them alone!" Hikaru's hands began to dance with fire. 

She laughed wickedly and shook her head, "Silly little Fire Knight. How much you don't know. Oh but the Wind Knight knows. That's why she's my favorite. We're so much alike; we both _know_." 

"We are nothing alike," Fuu was trembling in rage at the insult, but she wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her brain. 

"Oh, but you see, we are. You each have a trait that I possess. Wind Knight possesses wit, Fire Knight possesses courage, and the Water Knight possesses the easily come by strength. So when all three of you are put together you get one of me. Honestly, no wonder you could never defeat me."

"You are none of those things! You're only a stupid, cowardly weakling!" Umi shouted and forced her sword to her hands once more. "If not, why wouldn't you face us in Cephiro, with all our weapons and magic?"

"Because I'm not stupid Water Knight. I wouldn't want your immortal Rune-Gods to help you out. Just because I pushed them back once doesn't mean I want to risk it again. _Besides_, I want to keep you _alive_, not battle for death. Enough talking though, time to send you back to your loved ones and the third task," and like a dream the maze and the rocks vanished, and they were once again in the Palace of Cephiro.

"Here's **another speech you wish I'd swallow**

Another **cue for you to fold your ears**

Another **_train of thought too hard to follow_**

Chugging along to the song that belongs to

**__**

The shifting of gears

Please forgive me for my **distance**

The **pain is evident** in my **existence**

__

Please forgive me for my _distance_

The **shame is manifest** in my **resistance**"

__

Fiona Apple, When the Pawn…, To Your Love


	2. The Swords

Chapter Two: The Swords

"Clef!" the three Knights ran through the palace faster than they'd ever run before. They ran into Ascot on their way, and Umi stepped forward, "Ascot, where's Clef? We need to speak to him right away, it's very urgent."

"Umi where have you been? We've been looking for you all day. The Guru is…indisposed at the moment," he winced and looked down, his bangs covering his eyes.

"What do you mean indisposed? Ascot what's wrong? Where's Clef?" Umi questioned, and he looked up quickly to meet her eyes before his head shot down again.

"Umi, Clef is very sick, he's been trying very hard to find you three, he says something terrible is happening to Cephiro that only the Magic Knights can stop. We don't know what's wrong with him; he might not last much longer," Ascot said softly, and the three girls stopped, completely and utterly shocked.

"What?" Hikaru whispered.

"That can't be…" Fuu protested.

"Where is he?" Umi persisted. 

"He's in his chambers, come on, I'll take you there, but Magic Knights, be prepared. He's not the person you left a week ago."

They nodded and Ascot took them towards Clef's room at a slower pace than they would have liked, but impatience was not a trait they should carry at the moment, so they held it in.

When they reached the large wooden doors to Clef's study, Ascot rapped on them three times. They slowly opened, and Clef's voice came out to them.

"Ascot, you've brought them," it was weak, weaker than they'd ever heard it, but it was joyous all the same. 

"I have Guru Clef," he responded formally and led the three into the chamber.

They looked around them at the large tapestries aligning the wall, of foreign places and countries they'd never seen. They spotted pictures of Autozam, Chizeta and Fahren; there was even a tapestry of Tokyo. Umi grinned at it, but then looked toward the bed that held the most powerful Mage in Cephiro. A deep purple velvet comforter covered his body, and his robes were draped over a nearby chair. His staff was leaning against a bedside table, on the table sat his headdress. There were deep circles under his ocean colored eyes, and his lavender hair was covered in sweat and matted. He coughed into a childish hand that didn't seem to belong to a man that was almost 750 years old. Once, Umi might have teased him for this, but this time she couldn't. He looked too much like a dying man. 

"Guru," all three knelt on one knee in front of his bed. Umi's hands clenched as her blue hair fell over her shoulders and into her eyes. That woman was behind this, she would have to pay.

"Rise, Magic Knights, I have a mission for you, if you're Willing," his tone was formal, but his eyes seemed to light up slightly.

Ascot brought the three chairs from another room, and that made them wary. Clef was too weak to even do simple summoning spells. Cephiro was too vulnerable in this state. They looked out Clef's large windows and didn't see anything wrong. The ocean still lapped calmly against the shore; the Forest of Silence was just that, silent. Monsters didn't ravage the land or tear at the people. It seemed safe enough, but even they could sense the danger growing here. 

"No doubt by now you have met her," there was no need for him to tell them who 'her' was. They already knew, as much as they hated to admit it. 

"Who is she Clef?" Umi asked as anger tore through her. 

"Who is she?" he laughed weakly, but it was not in humor. "Her name is Mala, and she is the Wielder of the Swords."

That didn't inspire the shudder from the three girls as it did from Ascot, but Fuu swore she felt a cool breeze as Hikaru looked toward the fire, almost sure it had died down. Umi stared forward placidly, unblinkingly. She felt a rush of freezing water flow through her.

"The Wielder of the Swords?" Fuu inquired despite the sudden cold. She had to know, there was something in this woman that showed utmost power. She didn't want to take on any enemy not knowing.

"The Wielder of the Swords is an ancient being, and evil being," Clef began. "Forged long ago, forged the same day as the pillar system, the same hour as the Magic Knights. She _is_ you…in a way," his smile was grim as the three shook their heads vehemently.

"Never," Hikaru slammed her fist against the chair, almost shattering it into splinters.

"Calm yourself," Clef's voice held a little of its old scolding, enough to make them stay silent, but not enough to make their unease fade. "She holds one of each of your traits, one of the traits of the Swords. The Swords she wields are replicas of yours in manner, in color, in feel, but they are, in one word, evil. They are the combination of all evil in the world, as your current swords are the combination of all good in the world. If you were to take them…the world would be doomed."

"Why would we ever take them?" Hikaru demanded. "We love Cephiro!"

"Her ways are persuasive," Clef answered mildly. "She has…tests…"

"We have undergone them," Fuu looked at the ground as Clef's blue eyes snapped open to stare into their souls.

"How many?" he shouted so loudly that Ascot had to rush forward to keep him from fainting.

"Two," Umi responded softly. 

"Two of the three then," he looked at the ground. "You must tell me of these tests." 

They poured out the whole story; the stories varied for the first test, but then grew the same for the second. Clef stayed silent, all the while his face grew paler, more drawn. It almost seemed as if their words were killing him. They all wanted to stop, but when it was suggested he would merely shake his head and answer no. 

"Whatever happens, you mustn't take the third and final test. Promise me!"

They nodded and kneeled before him, drawing their swords and holding them in front of him in a formal salute, "This we promise by the blades that have saved Cephiro more than once. This we promise, by our vows as Magic Knights." 

He seemed to rest easier as he fell back into the pillows and nodded, "Now leave me, I need rest." 

They nodded and walked out, Ascot accompanying them. 

§§§~~~

"But how are we supposed to keep from taking it if she corners us in our dreams, or in a whole other world like she did for the first two?" Hikaru inquired when they were shut up in their room.

"I don't know, but we have to," Umi looked into her lap. She sat cross-legged on the bed, her hands rested on her knees. "No matter what happens to us, we have to. No matter how she tortures us, we have to. We cannot take those swords. I will not let myself turn to darkness."

Fuu nodded and smiled weakly.

"You're right, again," Hikaru's smile was a little stronger, and it brought warmth to the other two. 

§§§~~~

His seals were loosening; he could feel it now. In a minute, a day, a week, a month, he could be free and causing pain to those that betrayed him.

"No father!" his son reached for a sword that wasn't there as he probed the magic seal with his own magic. 

"Back off!" he snarled and slammed his son away with his magic, nursing his hand that his son had smashed. Precious magic lost, that was all, his son lie unconscious in this darkness and precious magic was lost. All that was important was the magic, the magic he had sold his soul for, the magic that would gain him vengeance. What was a soul anyway? 

"No…Umi…" he whispered, then his head slumped against his chest and he was barely breathing.

He gave his son a scathing look and refused to help him. That would waste far too much magic, far too much. He had been dead before, he knew what dead was. It wasn't anything for his son to be fretting; soon the love of his life would be dead too. Only, he planned to make her suffer first. Then, maybe if he felt merciful he'd let her die, maybe.

§§§~~~

"Here we meet again," Fuu heard her voice in the darkness and spun to face it. She wasn't surprised when she found she couldn't draw her sword in this darkness. She hadn't been able to draw her sword yet. There was something in that, but she didn't have time to think before she was warped into a world of light. All memory was washed away from her; all she had to do was walk up that hill in front of her.

"Ferio," she smiled at him, and he grinned back and held his arms out for her. She ran toward them, but was blocked by a wall. She looked at it puzzled, not quite nervous, not yet. She drew on the powers of Wind and easily knocked it over. She smiled again and walked forward only to be greeted by another wall. She glared at it, how dare these things try to keep her from her Prince? Maybe if she used sheer force instead of magic, they were magic things after all weren't they? Then something from another time and another place dawned in her mind, 'Third test.' 

A test she wasn't supposed to take? Was that it? That couldn't possibly be it, there was no test she shouldn't take, was there? A horribly cruel woman appeared in her memories, and she gasped. This was they were facing. She couldn't take this test, she couldn't.

"Fuu-chan," Ferio called and looked broken when she sat on the ground, refusing to try and knock down the wall. 

A horrible shape appeared behind Ferio. It was some sort of monster, something worse than even Ascot's. Its long fangs dripped with what appeared to be blood, and, was that a strand of blue hair? Her stomach lurched, but she forced it to quiet, barely. It raised a gnarled green hand and waved to her. "What? Ferio!" she screamed.

"Fuu-chan!" he yelled back. She quickly realized he was defenseless. 

"Ferio!" she could force herself to be still no longer. She slammed her fists against the wall and knocked it over, in sheer force. She began to sprint up the hill, calling on her magic as she did, but something in her head made her stop. 

'A test.' She was dreaming wasn't she? This wasn't actually happening, Ferio was sound asleep in a room nearby. He wasn't.

That same gnarled green hand urged her forward. She wanted to save him from that thing that was human but not quite. Its features were almost the same, but the eyes had no pupils, no color. They were a glazed white. The skin was falling off the flesh, but was a sickly green color that only plants should be. The hair was half missing but what was there was a tangled mash of blood and matted black hair. Fuu quickly saw its other hand had been nicely severed by Umi's sword, but this was only a dream. "Save him Magic Knight, I'll give you the chance," its voice was like a viper whispering sickness in her ear. She shook her head.

"What?" Ferio whispered and shook his head. "Fuu-chan, I love you, you must, we must be together."

"No Ferio," she whispered and turned her head. "No, not tonight."

That hand swung down, and Fuu stared in horror as Ferio's head fell from his body. The scream she sounded seemed to ring on the mountains.

§§§~~~

"Where is this place?" Hikaru asked, but before she could realize or guess all memory and thought faded away from her. She smiled blissfully at the clouds overhead and the meadow beneath her feet. She giggled helplessly and let the flowers tickle her nose as she fell among them. She could just lie here, all…

"Hikaru?" she sat up and looked around her. "Hikaru? I need you to come here, I want you to find something for me."

"Okay Eagle," she answered and walked toward his voice. "But where are you?"

"Over here," she found him quickly on the edge of a very foreboding forest. The trees hung over so there was no light inside. It was a dreary contrast to the meadow she stood in now. 

"In there?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, it's-it's my sword Hikaru," he looked distressed, and she hated seeing him worry. "I've lost my sword in there, and…" she looked down and saw that he was wounded. There was a gash in his leg. 

"You're hurt!" she reached down to touch it and he winced.

"Not badly, when we get back to the palace we'll have Fuu fix it," he smiled at her, and she nodded, still worried.

"I'll get your sword, where did you lose it?" she looked into the forest and didn't want to go but wanted to help her friend in whatever way she could. 

"Right down that path there, sort of path," he grinned, and she nodded and was about to enter, but felt something tugging at her heart.

'A test.'

"Yes," she murmured. "The third test, I'm not supposed to take it, we decided. Clef told us." 

"What? Hikaru my sword, I can't be left defenseless, not injured," Eagle protested.

"I'm sorry Eagle, I can't go in there," Hikaru shook her head and crossed her arms, refusing to set foot into the darkness.

"What do you mean you can't go in there?" his voice sounded slightly angry and slightly confused.

"I just can't. It's a test that I can't take because it'll turn me evil. You understand?" she smiled, but he glared at her, and she tried not to crumble at his glare.

"You mean to kill me?" he demanded. "Hikaru I can't go, but you can! Are you afraid?"

"No," she drew the word out carefully. "I just can't Eagle, I'm sorry."

"You are not the friend you're made out to be," he turned and started to walk away.

Hikaru reached out to him, the word was on her lips, 'Wait…' Still, the voice was louder inside her head, 'A test Magic Knight.'

She shed a tear and watched him disappear, possibly forever.

*

Before Umi could even question, the darkness faded to be replaced by a dimly lit room. She looked down and found she was in her fencing uniform with a sword in her hands. She grinned and turned to bow to her opponent. 

"We'll test your strength," the opponent jeered, and Umi tilted her head. That rang a bell.

'A test of strength.' 

She looked around for the voice, but realized it was that of her memory. Before she could wonder, her opponent was pacing her, and her feet were moving of their own accord. She fell into the familiar strokes and blocks and realized how good her opponent really was. Whoever this was, she would defeat them and prove her skill. 

No, that's not right, something told her, and she stopped. Her opponent slashed across her cheek, then her arm, urging her to fight. She wanted to, she wanted to stop that searing pain in her flesh, but she couldn't. She had to stop. Something was telling her that there was something more.

"Weakling, fight!" her opponent urged, more persistent now. There was a slash across her chest that dug in, then her hands, both of them, marked by blood. She screamed and fell to the floor; another strike cut off her long blue hair and marked her neck, not deep enough to kill. She looked at the person with no eyes and there was a slash across her other cheek. She buried her head in her hands and cried, tears mixing with blood and pouring down her hands as her opponent slashed her back again and again, the pain was blinding. She screamed for forgiveness, and woke, drenched in sweat; the other three were trembling beside her. She reached for the two and all three began to sob uncontrollably.


	3. Guarding Dreams

*I'm pretty sure someone asked this awhile ago. About the Tori quotes at the ends of my chapters, if you want more information or downloads go to hereinmyhead.com absolutely one of the best Tori sites out there. ^.^ And gomen for the long update problem! School is just crazy right now!*

Chapter Three: Guarding Dreams

"I can't do it!" Umi screamed and slammed her fists on the table as her blue hair fell over her eyes, hiding the stress that lined her face. Two days with only five-minute naps every few hours during the night was taking its toll. Her eyes were underlined in black, as were the eyes of the other two. None of them could sleep for fear of Mala and her dark swords. Tests they could never take- tests that were too horrible to endure.

"You need to sleep," Ascot encouraged. There was no one that sat at the table that wished to see them in pain the way they were now. Their dreams haunted them when they were forced to sleep, and the lack of sleep was tearing them apart. None of the three were eating now either, which made matters worse. As if remembering this, Eagle added.

"And eat."

"What would you have us do?" Umi demanded, more to the gathering of people than to Eagle or Ascot. "Would you have us sleep and be forced to see our loved ones die again and again, or would you have us take the tests?"

"We would have you live to defeat Mala," Lantis answered coolly. 

"And you cannot do that without food or sleep," Presea added, much gentler than Lantis' expressionless tone.

Fuu put her head down, and a small tear streaked down her cheek from under her glasses. Ferio gripped her hand reassuringly and kissed her cheek, "I'll never leave you Fuu-chan," he whispered for her alone, but the room was so quiet that everyone heard.

"You must…" Clef limped forward, panting between phrases. "Guard your…dreams…"

"Guru!" the three Knights jumped up and helped him to his chair while the others watched anxiously.

"This isn't wise Guru Clef," Ascot mumbled respectfully and went to stand next to the Master Mage.

"Of course it isn't," Clef's smile was far too bland. "But who else to teach the Magic Knights…to guard their…dreams…" he regained his breath and smiled again, a little stronger this time. 

"Guard our dreams?" Umi's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"There is a way to keep her from your dreams," Clef's voice was a raspy whisper, but he was able to go without panting this time, which relieved them a little. "To sleep soundly, though it is very difficult to learn."

"I don't care how hard it is," Hikaru smiled. "I just want to sleep again. I never thought that anything could be worse than my school sleep schedule, but this definitely is."

Fuu grinned and nodded her agreement, no one doubted her school sleep schedule was far harder to deal with than theirs.

Clef smiled at her and raised his hands so his staff appeared in them. 

"Guru," Ascot tried to keep the fear from his voice. "Is this entirely wise?"

"Do you question me?" Clef snapped, and Ascot bowed and stepped back.

"No Guru," he mumbled, and Clef nodded and looked back to the three girls.

"All I can do is say the words of the spell. I fear the magic must come from you, I don't have the strength to do the spell myself. Look into yourselves and concentrate all your magic into your body, so much that you can hold no more. Then, once you've done that, force it toward my staff, but don't let it take physical form, or it may kill us all," his words were all too casual.

Hikaru was regretting her decisions when Umi nodded and closed her eyes. 

"I'll go first," she muttered and looked inside herself, finding her magic easily. She smiled and began to drink in the great blue ball so that it filled her every pore, so that she was alive with magic. All her senses were enhanced, she could feel every whisper of wind, hear every heart beat. She smiled, completely forgetting her duty. 

"Magic Knight of Water, feared by all but respected by all. It was your strength that drew my son, but now your time has come," a voice whispered in her head, and she fell into her magic, drowning in the blue ball, now water. Darkness wrapped her in itself, and she suddenly realized her magic was drowning her, killing her. She had filled herself to the brim, she could take no more and she had tried. But then what was that voice? "Will you kill yourself before I'm even free? No matter, I'll find you in your death and exact my revenge. My son, he loved you, but so did I. I will have my revenge, sooner or later, it will come." 

Umi screamed as the searing magic cut through her, then there was a dull pain and she was ripped out of the water and came coughing up onto the floor of the palace. 

"You'll kill yourself draining too much of your magic!" Clef shouted at her breathlessly, then hit her hard on her head with his staff.

She glared up at him, but her body was trembling. She had almost died, Clef had saved her, but…she looked at him and realized that he was trembling as well. He must have used a lot of magic to pull her out, or at least more than he had. "Arigato," she mumbled, and he nodded gravely.

"Now we'll have to…" a hand shot to his chest as he fell to the ground, trying to lean on his staff for support. "We have to…" he struggled to stand, but simply fell back.

"Guru!" a dozen voices shouted before Clef fell completely to the ground.

"Guard them Umi…you know…how…"

"I can't!" Umi screamed helplessly. "Clef!"

"You must…protect them…"

She turned and looked at her friends who were frantic in the sudden commotion. Hikaru's pale face and rings under her red eyes and Fuu who was sobbing in anguish. The ones she had saved Cephiro with time and time again. The ones she could trust anything to, they were dying. They were all dying…

She nodded and kissed her fingers, then pressed them to Clef's mouth in a formal pledge. He smiled weakly and passed into unconsciousness.

"Guru," Ascot whispered and picked up the small form in his arms.

"I will take him Ascot," Lafarga took the Master Mage from Ascot's arms and walked down the corridor, while Ascot turned back to direct his eyes on Umi.

"Onegai, Umi!" he shouted desperately, and Umi turned to look at Hikaru and Fuu who were shaking their heads in astonishment. They had no idea, no idea how terrifying it was. They…she had to do it. She had to! She wasn't going to be selfish this time; it wasn't about her now. This was about Cephiro, more importantly about Hikaru and Fuu. She had to help them; they needed her. How many times had she relied on them? It was time for her to repay some of that.

"H-" she had to wet her throat so she could begin again, "Hikaru."

"H-hai?" Hikaru stepped forward, and Umi began to repeat to Hikaru what Clef had told her. 

"Look inside yourself, but _be careful_ don't let your magic overpower you, and don't let it take a definite shape. Do you understand?"

Hikaru nodded numbly and Umi smiled and patted her shoulder, "Good."

Hikaru grinned and clenched her fingers before she closed her eyes and a red magic began to surround her body. Umi touched her wrists gently and began whispering words that filled her body, "_Accendo, Aqua, Aduro, adligo ad, reservo ad, absolvo ad absisto malefactor._"

Magic fell from all over the room and spiraled into Hikaru, every odd thing, including people contributed to the bond. When she opened her eyes she was panting but smiling. "I can feel her presence…it's…gone…" she smiled blissfully, and Fuu stepped forward eagerly. Umi smiled weakly, but she could feel the magic draining from her body. She hadn't even cast the spell upon herself yet. She shook it off and waited for Fuu's magic to cover her in a green glow before repeating the same words. Fuu stepped back with the same effect, and Umi managed to see her small smile before she passed out onto the ground. There was nothing but blackness then.

§§§~~~

"Umi! Oh Umi!" a cruel voice called in the darkness of her dream. She was curled on the ground in a small ball; her feet sprawled out behind her in an awkward position. She stood shakily and looked around her, but all she saw was blackness. 

"What? Where am I?" she rubbed a pounding head and realized she had to be in the same sort of dream she'd had before. She was in the third test.

"You thought you could escape me. You might have saved the other two from my dream web, but you forgot all about yourself and got entangled on your own! And don't think those other two are immune now either. They're alone and vulnerable. Your loss is my gain!" she laughed evilly as she stepped from the darkness, materializing in front of Umi's eyes.

"You will never force me to take those tests!" Umi screamed angrily. "You can kill me a thousand times and I will never yield! I am a Magic Knight of Cephiro and my duty is to Cephiro! Don't you understand? What you're doing is wrong!" 

"You will die a thousand times then, and a thousand times more for what you've done!" she screamed and opened her hand as black magic shot from her fingers and threw Umi into the ground. She screamed as she fell back into the deep nothingness. It was like a black whole that never ended. She was going die. She was never going to see Cephiro or her friends again. A deep hopelessness surrounded her. No, she was just going to fall forever. Dying would have been better.

§§§~~~

"She's been asleep for hours," Fuu whispered to Clef as he stumbled into her rooms. 

"And…" Ascot stopped pacing when Umi coughed lightly. His eyes jumped up; ready to see her beautiful blue eyes, just once…"Umi!"

Her cough caused blood to spill from her mouth, and small cuts appeared on her arms. Ascot's eyes widened in horror as everyone in the room took a sharp intake of breath.

"Mala has her, it's all up to her now. I was so stupid to have let her try that on her own! I didn't tell her she may get her own energy drained as well!" Clef cursed himself angrily.

"Guru, it wasn't your fault!" Presea shouted, and he waved a hand at her.

"Even now you're sick Guru, you haven't had enough rest. You should get back to sleep, Umi is in good hands," Lafarga assured him.

"I-"

"Get to bed!" Presea slammed her hand toward the door, and Clef nodded meekly, looked back at Umi once more and hurried for the door, trying to act like he wasn't hurrying at the same time.

Presea nodded quickly to herself and looked back to the Magic Knight who was whimpering softly in her sleep.

"Help her, someone," Ascot mumbled softly, and the others nodded in agreement.

*Not edited and very short. I was just so excited that I finished _something_ that I had to post. Gomen gomen gomen! But I'm on Christmas break, maybe I can get something done!*


	4. Loosening Seals

Man! How long has it been?! Like, ten months! Jeez, I hope you guys still remember this story! I'm so sorry about the updating problem, but this has been a busy year for me. Every break I was away and every day I wasn't away or at school I was working. It's just now that I actually had some time to stumble across this story and realize that it was actually decent and deserved to be continued. So, I'm really really really sorry about the update, and I hope to be a lot more consistent at least till the end of the summer. I definitely owe you guys. I hope you didn't forget me!!!

Chapter 4: Loosening Seals

"Umi! Father! Stop! This is madness!" a voice in the darkness screamed.

"Shut up!" another voice hissed. "She will join us in our darkness, isn't that what you want? To be with her again?"

"Not like this!" the first voice shouted. "Never like this!"

"Too bad," the second voice whispered mercilessly.

"I won't let you," the first voice sounded suddenly determined, and Umi smiled slightly in the darkness she was drowning in.

"No! Don't!" there was a combination male and female screech, and then she felt hands lifting her up, pulling her free of her magic. She opened her eyes and looked around. The black faded to gray, faded to white, a blinding white light. She slammed her eyes shut again, then coughed loudly. Loudly, meaning, she could hear.

Her eyes snapped open, only to meet the bright morning sun, "Ugh," she groaned angrily, and Fuu and Hikaru rushed to her side.

"Umi-chan!"

"Umi-san!"

"Fuu, Hikaru," she mumbled unhappily. "Water?"

Fuu quickly ran to a nearby dresser and poured a glass of water from a pitcher that was lying there. She held it to Umi's lips, and the Water Knight drank thirstily.

"Arigato," she grumbled when the cup was empty.

"More?" Fuu inquired, but Umi shook her head slightly, then groaned in pain.

"What happened?" she asked, and Hikaru shook her head.

"I don't know, you were warding our dreams, and then, suddenly, you were unconscious. It's been three days Umi."

"Three days?!" Umi sputtered, throwing herself up, only to be met by a searing headache which forced her back into the pillows. She must have spent longer in that dark than she thought.

"We've slept soundly thanks to you though," Hikaru smiled, and Fuu nodded in agreement. "No dreams, no tests."

"That's good," Umi whispered, reliving her strange dream once more. Had it been a dream though? Those voices, that pain, seemed so…real, and so…familiar.

"What happened?" Fuu frowned at Umi's blank eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure myself," so Umi recounted the darkness to them, and the strange voices, and they listened attentively, but quietly, for which Umi was extremely grateful.

"So someone is defending us in the dark," Fuu thought out loud, and Umi nodded.

"Looks that way."

"Odd," Fuu shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense, but I guess we don't know enough, not yet."

"Have you found out anything more about how we can attack Mala?" Umi didn't need an answer from the angry look on Hikaru's face.

"No," her small hands clenched into fists, and fire began to leap around them. "There's nothing Umi! There's no trace of her! She doesn't even live in Cephiro, how are we supposed to get at her? And yet, she haunts us! We're totally helpless to her torment!"

"Not helpless," Ascot approached Umi's bed from his position in the door. "Not totally."

"Ascot," Umi smiled, and he took a seat by her bed and smiled in return.

"Umi, good to see you're okay, and awake."

"Good to be awake," she answered, and he laughed weakly and nodded his understanding.

"What do you have to tell us Ascot?" Fuu inquired, and he turned to the Wind Knight, realizing his real reason for being there, or the mission he was sent on at least.

"Well…" he sighed heavily. "There's a story you don't know."

"Of course," Umi rolled her eyes. "You know why? Because there's always a story we don't know. I swear, one day we should just sit down with the history of Cephiro and read it. That way, we'll _always_ be prepared."

He chuckled softly and shook his head at her, "You would say that."

"I would," she replied curtly. "Because it's the honest truth."

He shook his head at her again but his eyes quickly sobered, "I…don't know how to begin, but…there was a time when our pillar was different from our ruler. It was a long time ago; so long that Clef doesn't even remember it. Our pillar was simply a pawn to the ruler's Will. He told her what needed to happen, and she made it that way. It wasn't…right…there was nothing about the pillar system that was right, but this was not right in any sense of the word. It made no sense, but it was what we knew, and so it stayed in place, until someone could destroy it.

"There was one pillar in particular, and one king. The pillar loved the king, secretly, but he did not return her love, and she was forced to suffer in silence, while her heart became bitter. The king cared more for himself than he cared for his people, but the pillar loved him and would do anything he asked her. He knew it, and his reign was filled with corruptness. So it went on like this until the king's son came to an age to understand the corruptness of his father and the growing bitterness of the pillar.

"The prince had fallen in love with the Magic Knight of Water, and he confided it all to her. She, in turn, told the other Knights, and the three planned to take action on the King. They knew if they could only get the prince into power Cephiro would be right again. What they didn't plan for was the pillar to go berserk on the King. You see; the prince wasn't the only one who had fallen in love with the Magic Knight of Water, the King had as well. When the pillar found out about his love for the Knight she vowed to destroy them all, and the man who had betrayed her love.

"She turned her powers as pillar against the King and the Magic Knights. She fought back their Rune Gods, sending them into isolation until the Magic Knights would be reborn, and left the Magic Knights a shattered mess. Then, she took up their swords and with the last remaining strength of the Magic Knights, she created the evil replacements. When she tried to destroy the good swords, the magic in them shielded them, so she caged the Rune Gods and the swords in the same dark prison, hoping they would never escape.

"In his desperation and grief, the prince took the last of his magic and used it against his father and the pillar, sealing them away forever. Unfortunately, the spell he used required a sacrifice-himself, and he was sealed away with them, lost for all eternity, or so we thought."

The three stared with shocked eyes, unable to speak, until Fuu managed.

"Let me guess, Mala was the pillar?"

Ascot nodded, "I don't know why Clef didn't tell you. I think he was too weak to tell the story, and then Umi fell into darkness as well, so…"

Umi's heart had stopped. She was sure she was going to faint again. So the men in the darkness must have been the King and the prince. The prince must have been the one to save her then, with some sort of magic. Which could only mean one thing, "The seals are loosening."

§§§

"You know that the time is coming," Mala whispered, and Clef turned around in the fog.

"Why do you want them Mala?" he demanded fiercely.

"You know why Master Mage, the time is coming," she repeated.

He held his staff out in front of him, daring her to come near, but her hollow laugh was all that pursued his challenge.

"I know as well as you do that you're too weak to face me, especially here, in my dream world. But it is almost that time, for past to meet present. We will see where her loyalty lies."

"You know where it lies Mala! They all belong to Cephiro! They will take their last breath fighting for this world if they have to! Never will they fight against it!"

"The fight was never over Cephiro!" she screamed suddenly, anger and sadness gripping her voice. "The fight was always over love! The fight is not with Cephiro; I could care less about this land! I did what I had to to please him, and he fell in love with his son's prize! My fight is with him, and with _her_, unfortunately, she's so tightly tied to the other two that they need to die as well. Now they will all suffer- all of them. The seals are loosening, and soon the time will come. You will see Clef, all your students will parish before your very eyes, and you'll be like a newborn kitten, unable to stop any of it."

He shot up and angrily pushed away the sweat that was brimming on his brow. There had to be a way to stop; there just had to. He forced himself up and stumbled to his bookshelf. These were books too dangerous to keep anywhere but in his own room, safely guarded. If any hand but his went to reach for those books they would disappear, untouched. His hands ran over the spines until he found the one he was searching for. He plucked it from its spot on the shelf and brought it back to his bed. Candle in hand, he began to study the writing.

§§§

"Umi darlin' you're okay!" Caldina shouted before throwing herself at Umi, who smiled and hugged her back.

"As usual!" she replied, taking a fighting stance, which made the others laugh.

"I've found it," Clef announced, leaning heavily on his staff as he walked into the room, and everyone turned to stare anxiously at him. Presea rushed to his side and helped him to chair. He grudgingly leaned on her arm, and when he was settled, turned to look at the others.

"Found what Clef?" Hikaru inquired anxiously, and he sighed and tried to regain his composure.

"I found the way to meet Mala."

"What is it?" Umi demanded immediately. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."

He held a hand out to her, and she eased back, calming the raging storm inside her, "It is a difficult spell; one I've never attempted. It will take an incredible amount of magic, an amount I'm afraid I simply don't have. But, it will allow you to fall into her dream world. The thing is, once you're there, nearly everything runs her way, so she must not detect your presence until you are upon her. Once you're there, you'll need to stay low and endure whatever beatings you come upon. Do not use magic, and do not summon your swords, because if you do, she'll detect it right away.

"Now, all you need to do is walk straight and keep a picture of her in your mind. Eventually, you will come across her lair, and you'll be able to face her, off-guard hopefully. Because it's on her ground, you won't have the help of your Rune Gods; all you'll have is your wits, your courage, and your strength.

"There's no telling what she may throw at you. No telling what tests she'll put in front of you, but no matter what, you must come out victorious. She may try to put the third task in front of you, but you _must_ keep your eye on_ her_. As long as you're attacking her and _only_ her, you cannot be taking her tests. Do you understand?" he met each of their gazes long and hard, and each nodded soberly. "Good, now-"

"How are we to do this if you don't have enough magic Guru?" Umi interrupted, and he glared at her, but answered despite.

"I'm going to need everyone's help," he responded, and everyone quickly agreed. "Now, every second I grow weaker and weaker. In a few days I might not even be able to stand. We need to do this as soon as possible."

"May we have a single hour Guru?" Fuu inquired softly, and he nodded.

"We will all meet back here in an hours time, understood?"

Everyone nodded and parted their separate ways, leaving Umi, Fuu and Hikaru alone.

"Well…" Umi sighed and ran a hand through her long blue hair. "I guess this is the big time guys. Whatever happens in there we've gotta keep together, right?"

"As long as I'm with you guys I know I'll be able to do it," Hikaru beamed at them, giving them her wonderful warmth.

"I agree with Hikaru-san," Fuu smiled slightly, and Umi laughed and threw her hand out.

"What would I do without you guys?"

"Probably get a lot more sleep," Hikaru grinned mischievously as she put her hand on top of Umi's.

"Who needs sleep?" Fuu teased, putting her hand on top of Hikaru's.

The three held the position for long moments, making sure to meet eyes, then wrapped their arms around each other before breaking away.

"See you in an hour," Umi whispered hoarsely, and the other two nodded with tears in their eyes before parting.

§§§

"Promise me you'll come out all right," Ferio stroked Fuu's ivory hands softly, and she tore her eyes from his.

"You know I can't do that Ferio."

"I know, but…" he gulped and pulled her close. "Aishiteru."

"Aishiteru," she managed to get in before he had her in a tight embrace, showering her with tender, heat-filled kisses.

In the back of her mind, she held Mala's image, and a deep anger filled her chest. That anyone would dare to take this from her infuriated her. She would never let it happen-never.

§§§

"You take care of yourself in there," Primera instructed, and Hikaru nodded, assuring her she would be fine. She still found it strange, looking up to a girl that had once been the size of her hand. To think, that you could simply change your size for love in Cephiro, what a wonderful idea. _To think, that someone would endanger that_, Hikaru thought to herself and tried to hold back the anger that was thick in her throat.

"Remember what Guru Clef has told you, it's very important," Lantis lectured, and Hikaru laughed and shook her head, punching him playfully in the shoulder.

"You're worried!"

"I-" he hesitated, then nodded. "Don't do anything too courageous."

She grinned and shook her head at him, "Arigato Lantis, Primera, I will be fine, I'm sure of it."

"Hikaru!" she turned to find that Eagle was rushing toward her. "Jeez, I thought I'd never find you," he looked around the gardens and smiled. "Figures you'd be here."

Primera nudged Lantis softly, and he cleared his throat and interrupted, "I think we're going to head in. I want to speak with Guru Clef."

Hikaru looked at them confusedly, but didn't protest, "Okay, see you in a few minutes."

Primera grinned and winked before they faded away. Hikaru watched them, perplexed, then shrugged and turned back to Eagle.

"Listen, I just wanted to tell you to be careful," he told her, holding her eyes, which made her cheeks flare.

"I will, you know I will."

"No I don't," he muttered, and she blushed even harder. That was true. She did have an uncanny ability to drag herself into dangerous situations. "If you don't come out of there I don't know what I'll do. I think I'll probably just go crazy. You saved me once, and I still owe you. You don't know how badly I want to go with you, yet I know I can't. This is the Magic Knights' road, and I'm not allowed to tread down it. Dammit!" he clenched his fists and turned his eyes downward, "When will there be a road I can walk with you?"

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at him. He was being tortured right in front of her, and she could think of nothing to do, "Eagle, I-" she didn't know what to say. She had no idea what the feeling swimming in her stomach was. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time, hot and cold, joyful and saddening. She reached up and stroked his hair gently, "I'll come back Eagle. I will."

He pulled his head up, and she pulled her hand away, but he grabbed it and pulled it back. Her fingers reached out and ran over his cheeks, and his eyes closed as he leaned into her embrace. Before she knew what was happening, she had reached up and was meeting his eager lips. A gasp escaped her when he pulled her close, but that was all she could manage before he had her again.

§§§

Umi sighed heavily and looked around her, taking in Cephiro one last time.

"Hey, need some company?" Ascot inquired, and she turned and smiled at him, beckoning him to join her.

He walked up to her and took a spot next to her position leaning over the balcony rail. He watched her stare out to the sea and blushed slightly when she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she whispered, and he nodded against her silky blue hair. "I don't want to see it lost."

"I know what you mean," but he wasn't talking about Cephiro.

"I wanted to thank you for all your help Ascot," she mumbled, which caused him to blush harder. "You were once my enemy; it seems so long ago now, but…even then you helped us. You helped us gain strength. You were there for me when no one else was; you always managed to make me laugh, when I needed it most. And you put me in my place when no one else would. So…I just wanted to thank you."

"Umi, that thank you sounds too much like a goodbye," he choked on his words, and she pulled away to meet his green eyes. She swooped his bangs from his eyes and smiled.

"You never know," she whispered, and he shook his head in terror.

"No."

"I'm not saying anything's going to happen!" she protested, smiling. "I just…I don't want anything to happen with me having regrets. I've wanted to thank you for a long time, and was always too embarrassed to. Now you've heard my thank you and I feel much more satisfied."

He nodded numbly, "Thank you too."

She laughed lightly, much lighter than she should have been able to, and took his arm, leading him back inside, "Ascot, you are too cute."

He laughed slightly; the mood brightened, and followed her inside, "Thanks, I think."


	5. The Road to the Golden Palace

Okay, okay, I know I promised more frequent updates, and this is more frequent, but…a little late. Yes, I've started another fanfiction, slaps self, but inspiration comes as inspiration goes. My new fic is Full Moon wo Sagashite, if you've seen it you're welcome to check out my story, it's decent, and if you haven't seen it, shame on you! Full Moon is the best anime (after Rayearth of course) sighs helplessly. Anyway! Here's the next chapter. Oh, and if any of you are reading _What If Things Weren't the Same?_ I updated a little after chapter three of this and no one reviewed tears so… I just hope you haven't forgotten that either. Well, I'm going to apologize profusely again and shut up. Enjoy!

Chapter Four: The Road to the Golden Palace

Fuu, Umi and Hikaru eyed each other warily from their positions in the middle of the circle.

"Remember what I told you?" Clef asked, and all three nodded. "Good, now, no matter what happens during this spell do not try to help us, and forget us when you get to her world. Don't lose concentration and don't waste magic or strength."

They nodded again, and he was forced to smile at the Knights. They had come so far; he didn't doubt them. He was positive they'd pull through.

"Now, if something dire happens, link hands and Will yourself back home with all your might, but only in dire need. If you leave without confronting her, she'll know our plans, and we'll have lost the element of surprise," he coached, and despite their nervous terror, they forced themselves to remember every word. "Good luck, we all believe in you," when he spoke, everyone in the circle nodded as one. "You all know what to do," Clef made sure to meet the eyes of everyone in the circle before beginning. Each gaze looked stony, yet determined. Fuu met Ferio's eyes as he whispered good luck, Umi smiled warmly at Ascot who blushed and looked down. The Water Knight barely stifled a gasp when Caldina reached around Lafarga to poke the much taller boy in the ribs. Hikaru's eyes were all Lantis needed to see to know she had a good reason to return, so he held back Primera's hands when she raised them to give Hikaru a thumbs up. The Fire Knight lowered her head to cover her blush then slowly moved them back up to look at Eagle one last time. Their eyes met only for a split second before the circle erupted in a flame of color.

"Wow," Umi mouthed to the other two as they spun around the circle. The small, faint, white beacon at the head of the circle had to be Clef, and the sight of the flickering magic made all the Knights' hearts ache. But slowly, the beacon began to grow and turn different colors, and the three realized those in the circle were pumping raw magic into the mage.

A soft orange on his right was Presea, next to whom was Caldina (an impressive, blazing pink) making the pale gray Lafarga. Next to Lafarga, was Ascot whose magic seemed to be a deep green flecked brown and white. He was followed by Ferio, who was represented by a blazing gold, the color of his eyes. Next to Ferio stood Lantis, who was feeding dark black magic into Clef, which contrasted greatly to Primera's almost neon blue light. Primera stood shoulder to shoulder with Eagle who let loose a silvery yellow light, completing the circle.

Before their eyes had been around the circle twice, Clef was whispering almost inaudible words. But even if they could hear them, they couldn't understand them anyway.

The ground lurched under their feet, and Fuu was thrown to the smooth floor. Umi and Hikaru helped her to her feet before another thud was heard.

They spun to find that Caldina had dropped to the floor, exhausted and drained.

"Caldina!" Umi lunged for the girl, but Hikaru and Fuu held her back.

"Remember what Guru Clef said. Do not try to aid them and no matter what, keep your eye on the goal," Fuu tried her hardest to sound apathetic, but the strain in her voice expressed her true concern.

The next to drop was Primera, just before the ground lurched again, forcing Hikaru to grit her teeth and keep her feet firmly planted on the ground, despite her urge to rush over to her fallen comrade.

Umi and Fuu each put a hand on one of her shoulders and gave her a loving smile before the ground rocked one more time, and they vanished from Cephiro.

§§§

The three opened their eyes in a large desert with no signs of any kind of life for miles.

"This is strange," Hikaru commented, observing her new surroundings.

"Be on your guard. This is her world; let's just hope she doesn't know we're in it," Umi warned, and the other two nodded.

Subconsciously, all three drew closer together. They weren't supposed to draw their weapons, in fear they might attract her attention, and they needed her to be off-guard to have any kind of chance on her own turf. Still, the comfort of the steel in their hands would have been much appreciated. Unfortunately, that didn't seem an option at the time, so they used one another for comfort instead.

Three hours later, they were parched and exhausted and there was still no sign of life anywhere.

"We're going to die if we don't get water soon," Umi tried to wet her lips with a dry tongue. "People don't live long in places like this for a reason."

"But there's no way out," Hikaru's eyes stared blankly at the horizon. They'd been walking for _hours_; still, the desert could be _huge_. It could take _days_ to walk across, but even she wouldn't pretend they could live days without water.

"Umi-san, what are you doing?" Fuu inquired when Umi bent down and began digging a hole in the sand with her fingers.

"I'm going to put water in it," Umi responded simply.

"Oh…wait…water from where?" Fuu persisted.

"My hands," Umi answered.

"Oh…wait…no!" Fuu screamed and smacked Umi's hand down, sending her to ground.

"Are you crazy?" Umi demanded, rubbing her hand while she stood.

"Umi-san, water from your hand means magic!" Fuu informed her.

"Would you rather see us die?" Umi countered.

"We could go back," Hikaru whispered her suggestion.

"We're not going back," Fuu declared. "I've thought of something."

The two neared eagerly, ready to hear anything to get them out of this desert.

"Clef told us we needed to keep our mind focused on the target. Have either of you been thinking of Mala yet?"

Both shook their heads.

"Didn't think so, I haven't been either. We need to; all of us need to think of her. Keep her in your mind, her image, if we're all thinking of her, we'll all get closer. That's what Guru Clef meant."

"If you say so," Umi looked at her skeptically.

"We should at least try," Hikaru smiled, and they both nodded and closed their eyes, bringing a picture of Mala into their mind, letting that one image or memory consume them. All three began walking forward, but with their eyes closed they didn't realize that Fuu was the first to disappear, followed by Hikaru, while Umi walked alone for a few more feet until she disappeared as well.

§§§

Fuu opened her eyes when she felt the shift and realized she was in a gorgeous world. She gasped and laughed her joy at what surrounded her. There were waterfalls and luscious greens all around her. Butterflies frolicked nearby and the water ran so blue she could have sworn it was something out of Umi's fingers. Umi…she turned and searched for the other two but they were nowhere in sight. _We must have gotten separated_, she thought absently. _We need to get back together._ The thought seemed to consume her as she headed forward, walking aimlessly, with no direction in her head. Soon, her feet were throbbing and her head was spinning, so she opted to go and get a drink from the nearby stream.

She bent down and cupped the water in her hands, bringing it to her lips, but when she looked down at it, the stream had turned a milky red color. She screamed and jumped away, dropping the blood back into the stream. Her eyes spun as she saw snakes dangling from vines and bugs swimming on the ground. Her heart began to race. She needed to get out, so she ran forward, beetles hissing in her ears. It was then that she realized that they had dropped onto her and were all over her body. Giant spiders and centipedes zooming around her body, each one more disgusting than the last. A snake slipped around her arm, and she threw it off, trying desperately to rid herself of the bugs that were now inside her clothing. Her breath picked up, and she became faint.

They're just animals, she tried to calm herself, _they're just…_A sharp pain in her leg made her realize there were scorpions in this mess as well.

Scorpions live in the desert. Her mind clicked. _The desert, yes…_She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, tried desperately not feel the legs that tiptoed all around her. Instead, she brought another horrifying image to mind, one of Mala. Once it was solid, and she knew that was the woman she had to find, she raced forward and the scenery shifted once more, the legs had vanished, and she was able to let out a sigh of relief.

§§§

Hikaru blinked and looked around. _This isn't any better than the desert, _she thought glumly to herself, surveying her surroundings. The plains seemed to last for miles upon miles, everything blurring together in the heat of the sun. She squinted to try and see the object moving ahead of her, but could barely catch it. Shrugging to herself, she began to wander ahead, hoping to find Fuu and Umi nearby.

Before she knew it, she was in the ground, unable to think, unable to breathe. Something was on top of her, clawing at her angrily. She hit it hard, groaning and rolling away, pulling herself up to stare at her attacker. A large cat, much like the one in her dream, was staring her down with unblinking eyes. Her first instinct was to go for her sword, but a quick reminder told her that wouldn't be wise. She looked around but all she saw was grass, and the thing was struggling up, vengeance in its eye. _Think Hikaru_, she urged herself, but there was nothing. She had no sword, no magic and there was nothing in the distance for miles. What could she do but face it in hand to paw battle?

She braced herself for impact as it lunged toward her throat. Before it could hit her, she jumped into it, throwing herself at the creature's chest, and with her small weight, managed to knock it to the ground, but not for long. Huge paws conditioned for power and speed fell upon her face, ripping at her flesh and making her scream in agony. Her muscles ached, her body was sore and there was nothing she could do except accept death and hope Umi and Fuu made it out all right. _Umi-chan…Fuu-chan…I failed…_

This isn't you Hikaru! Her mind shouted angrily, forcing her to knock the creature back once more. _Think!_

"I'm trying!" Hikaru screamed, then, remembered what Fuu had said. As the cat leapt one final time, she brought up the picture of Mala in her head and began to charge forward. She made it so she couldn't even pray the thing wasn't gaining on her. All her mind was focused on that one thing- getting to Mala.

It wasn't until moments later that she opened her eyes and found a vicious predator was no longer chasing her, but she was with Fuu-chan, both looking dazed and confused.

"Fuu-chan," she choked, and her friend turned to stare in horror at her bloodied face.

"Hikaru-san what happened?" Fuu demanded, and Hikaru managed to get out the story.

"I'll heal-" Fuu stopped…"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, they're not too deep. We'll just wait for Umi-chan and go find some water," Hikaru insisted, and Fuu nodded, eyeing Hikaru warily.

It was then that Hikaru realized Fuu looked very shaken up herself, and there were small holes in her legs and arms. "Fuu-chan, what happened to you?"

Fuu shuddered violently and recounted the story of her experiences, "I sucked out the venom, so I should be all right. It didn't do much damage, except mentally."

Hikaru eyed Fuu warily, but both agreed to wait for Umi before moving on. They didn't want to be separated ever again, not out here.

§§§

Umi wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shelter her body from the piercing cold. One minute a desert, the next minute this! She growled angrily at the heavens. She was in an arctic tundra, or what she thought to be an arctic tundra at least. There was no trace of life, only her and the ice she was walking on. Her small skirt and short sleeve shirt were no help in the cold either, yet she forced herself to trudge miserably on, in the hope that maybe she would find Fuu and Hikaru in this damned wasteland.

She'd been walking for nearly twenty minutes when she noticed she couldn't feel her feet, and her hands were not coming unstuck from her arms. Her teeth had given up chattering by now, and the wind was picking up. She needed to find some place to stay, but there was no shelter in sight. But of course, it's only when you think that things can't get worse, that they do. Almost out of nowhere, an ice and windstorm began. The ice that rained down on her was so sharp that it ripped at her already numb flesh. Fortunately for her, the blood froze before she could lose too much of it.

She wanted to cry, but her tears froze on her face. She wanted to scream, but her voice had long since left her. She wanted to just lay down and die, but she had a mission to accomplish, so she trudged forward, _Hikaru…Fuu…_She imagined them and prayed they were all right, prayed with all her heart to find them soon, to get out of this frozen hell. She laughed weakly, or it would have been a laugh if her throat wasn't frozen shut. _When hell freezes over, that might actually be worse…_

Fuu, Hikaru! Please be near! I can't take much more of this…As her thoughts of her friends consumed her, her world began to shift. She barely noticed it with her head down and her body headed forward, but suddenly, there was no cold or wet, suddenly, she realized she had fingers and there were two warm bodies around her to melt away the ice that was frozen to her body.

"Umi-san!"

"Umi-chan!"

"Fuu? Hikaru?" she looked up and smiled at them through frozen eyelashes, "I didn't think I'd find you." When she spoke, her teeth started chattering again, which she took as a good sign.

"Oh Umi-chan," Hikaru whispered. "I'll make a fi-" she stopped. "Gomen, but…"

"I know," Umi stammered through jittery teeth. "It's all right, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"I hope you don't get sick," Fuu commented. "Come on, we'll keep you warm," so the three huddled together in a tight ball, keeping Umi warm and protected, and she thanked them weakly. She had been granted with such wonderful friends…

Half an hour later, Umi was thawed out, and Hikaru was bandaged as best as they could bandage her with tourniquets made from pieces of clothing. Finally, Umi was able to see what they were dealing with. A straight road and dead ahead lie a shimmering golden palace, "That's it?"

The other two nodded, "It's gaudy enough," Hikaru commented spitefully, and Umi laughed weakly.

"That it is, so…tacky," she stuck her tongue out in disgust, and Fuu giggled softly.

"Shall we go?" Fuu suggested, and they agreed and began the long walk to the castle ahead.

§§§

Ferio paced the room angrily.

"Ferio, settle down, you're making us all nervous," Clef scolded harshly, but all Ferio did was look up and snarl at the master mage. Sit down! Hah, how could the old man be so calm? But on second look, Ferio realized the mage was not calm at all. His hair was unkempt, and his eyes were hollow. His hands wound around his staff so tightly his knuckles were white. No, he was just as worried as the rest of them. Even the seemingly apathetic Lantis was noticeably worried. Primera was comforting him softly by the fire. He just stared at her, hand on the huge fireplace, sighing to himself.

Eagle was in no better condition than Ferio. Lafarga had taken him outside nearly an hour ago to practice, hoping to let them both wear off some extra energy. Eagle had been pacing much harder than Ferio, and Lafarga couldn't stand the swooshing of his cloak any longer.

Presea and Caldina were sitting on a couch near the fire, staring worriedly into the flames. Both had cups of tea in their hands, but neither seemed to have taken a single sip. And Ascot…Ferio looked around. Ascot had disappeared. They all guessed he was outside with one of his creatures, looking for comfort. Ferio didn't blame him; he wished he had some idea of how Fuu was doing, any hint of anything! Yet, there was nothing, nothing that wouldn't give them away. They just had to trust the girls. He trusted Fuu, and Hikaru and Umi too, but…they were on enemy territory and…so many things could go wrong. He scolded himself again, no, he wouldn't think about what could go wrong. Nothing would go wrong; they were strong. All of them were strong, they'd come back, his princess would surely return.

Princess…he sighed softly to himself, funny to hear that, yet…It wasn't her title yet, but…she would say yes, wouldn't she? He twisted the box in his pocket around and around, hoping that it would give him some of the answers he sought. _Worry about that when she gets back Ferio, _he chided, nodding to himself.

"Ferio, you're pacing so much you're getting dizzy. I just saw you argue with yourself," Clef snapped, and Ferio blushed and glowered at him again.

"I'm surprised you haven't broken your staff with that grip yet Clef," he commented dryly, and Clef's grip immediately loosened. He didn't blush as Ferio had, but the split-second surprise on his face was reward enough. Ferio allowed himself a small smirk and returned to his pacing. Clef didn't have anything more to say after that.


	6. Escape

Yep, can you believe it? I updated _two_ count 'em, _two_ stories in two days. I'm really going out on a limb here guys, but this chapter is very quality, and this story is moving through my head now so I can at least promise another chapter within the next week, seriously, I think. Um…if you forget what this story is about, well, basically there's an evil woman (Mala) who rules a sort of dream world, and she wants to break back into Cephiro to take revenge on the Magic Knights, especially Umi. Mala used to be a Pillar when the Pillar and King worked side by side. She fell in love with the King, but the King and his son both loved Umi, so she got all pissed and wants to kill everyone. In a last attempt to save the Magic Knights, the Prince locked himself and his father in a cell in the dream world and now the cell is breaking. Mala wants the Knights to accept evil swords, so she can use the three against the King and Prince when they escape. Fuu, Umi, and Hikaru are all headed to her palace in the dream world when this chapter starts. Hope that sums it up enough so you won't quit on me! Arigato!

Chapter Six: Escape

"Is there something strange about this whole situation?" Fuu asked timidly, and Umi and Hikaru looked at her curiously. They were hiding behind a bush only twenty yards or so from the front entrance to the glimmering palace that was even tackier up close. It was so bedazzled in gems and gold that they could barely stand to look at it for fear of receiving a severe headache if not some temporary or even permanent blindness.

"What?" Umi inquired, "Besides the fact that that palace is made entirely of gold and it hasn't been torn down to be smelted yet?"

Hikaru stifled a chuckle, but Fuu shook her head succinctly, "There are no _guards_. Clef said that we would surely face challenges on the road, but there are no guards to her palace. I…that doesn't sit right with me," Fuu wasn't one to falter, and the fact that she did made the hair on their necks rise.

"Maybe she just assumes that the palace is its own guard, I mean, it's ugly enough, even if it is solid gold," Umi commented in a tone that suggested she wasn't entirely joking.

Fuu was about to scold her on her fashion awareness at a time like this when it occurred to her, "Maybe the palace is its own guard," she murmured to herself, and Hikaru cocked her head curiously.

"Fuu-chan, it's not _that_ ugly."

"No, no, no," Fuu waved the response off and looked back at it. "It must have some kind of trap set up for anyone that tries to enter, that's the only reason she would leave it unguarded. Even if this is her world, I doubt she would be that trusting of the people her evil mind corrupts."

Umi nodded; she had a very good point, not even the most arrogant of villains became any good by being stupid. And Mala had told them herself she was not stupid.

"So what do we do?" Hikaru asked the very question that was on Umi's mind, and both turned to look at Fuu who had become the momentary leader of the small party.

"We test the waters, so to speak," she answered. "We've learned that we can manipulate her world to some extent, right? Well, what if all three of us concentrate on something that would try to penetrate her walls. But it has to be something simple; something that all of us would know what it looks like so that we're sure to create the same image."

"What about a crow?" Umi suggested, shrugging her shoulders in a casual way, but even that simple gesture was performed with grace that Fuu envied. "They _love_ shiny objects; I'm sure they'd be more than willing to enter her castle, and they're small, so no one inside would really take too much notice."

"Excellent idea," Fuu looked to the other two who nodded, and all three concentrated as hard as they could on the image of the small black bird that they'd seen hundreds of times in their world and Cephiro. When the image was solid in all their minds, they pushed it forward with a small amount of energy, and the bird flew from the bush they were hiding in and immediately directed itself toward the glittering palace. The three smiled triumphantly and waited.

The bird glided carelessly for sixty feet until it was shot out of the sky by two bolts that pierced each wing. It screamed helplessly before it spiraled to the ground, and the three released the image from their mind, sparing the bird the pain of death, and it disappeared without a trace, forcing the guards that had been hidden just inside the palace walls to come out and examine the place where the bird should have fallen.

"Disguises," Hikaru whispered, and Fuu nodded her agreement.

"But no weapons," Umi warned; taking a closer look at the swords fastened to the guards' hips. "I'm afraid _our_ swords might think they're being clever."

Hikaru wanted to protest that they would be vulnerable, not to mention noticeable, but she could see the sense in Umi's point, and Fuu assured her that they might just be seen as spies who hid their weapons as well as their secrets.

So, once again, the three girls imagined themselves in the guards' uniforms, minus the weapons. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in rough brown breeches, a black silk shirt and a scarlet tunic embroidered in gold. All three had altered their features to be more masculine, Fuu had removed her glasses, and all their hair had been shortened and toned down to a muddy brown so they didn't bare any resemblance to their past selves. Once all three had given each other inspections, they stepped from the protection of the bushes, holding hard to the image of their disguises.

Umi looked disgustedly down at the tunic she wore, her eyes darting warily around her, "I should just post a sign on my back that says, 'Shoot me, please,'" she scoffed, and again almost startled a very unprofessional giggle from Hikaru. Fuu just sighed and smiled slightly; leave it to Umi to think of something like that in a foreign world.

As they neared, the guards caught site of them and all conversation stopped. The closer they got, the harder they clung to their disguises, knowing that was the single thing that kept them from immediate death or discovery if they were forced to call their weapons to defend themselves.

When they were within speaking distance, the guard on the right saluted them and waved them to enter, "The Lady is in a right pert mood, hope you have some good news for her," he called to them, and Umi smiled a coy smile that, if she had not been in a man's body, would have been supremely seductive.

"Oh, I think we'll have some news that the Lady will find _extremely_ interesting," she assured him, and he grinned back.

"The business that brings us here is very urgent, where may we find the Lady now?" Fuu ventured to ask, and the man on the left looked behind him carefully and then inched forward to whisper the location in Fuu's ear. She nodded and thanked him, her expression grim.

Once they were in the Palace, Umi and Hikaru hurried to hear what Fuu had learned, and she relayed the message softly, "He said that she was meditating and asked not to be disturbed unless it was particularly pressing. He said that we'd find her in her study."

"So where's that?" Hikaru shrugged her shoulders helplessly, and Umi shook her head.

"Well, in everything I've ever learned about castles, the monarch's chambers are in the direct center of the castle, that way they are the farthest away from any possible attack. They'll probably be on the second floor with a hidden staircase leading away for attacks, so our first goal is to find the steps and our second to find the center."

They agreed with a silent nod and began their stroll around the castle, trying to look as if they somehow belonged there.

"You three," a deeply masculine voice growled from nearby, and the three turned slowly, carefully, nonchalantly.

"Yes?" Hikaru piped up, using her most innocent and natural voice.

"Where are you three going?"

"We were looking for the Lady," Fuu picked up smoothly, giving him a measured stare-down.

"She's said not to be disturbed," the man boomed, but he was not a guard and carried no weapons, instead, he was wearing some sort of livery that Umi found even more visibly appalling than the guard uniform she was sporting.

"We have most important information to bring her," Umi stepped up, and added for his ears alone, "about the girls."

The man apparently knew who she spoke of, and he nodded, "Well, she's in her chambers right now," he gestured casually in the opposite direction. "You'll want to go up the stairs and to the left. It's the second door on the right."

"Thank you," Fuu bowed her head, and he smiled, pleased by her subordinate behavior.

"In fact, I was just heading there myself, I'll take you," he offered, and the three thanked him again and followed, their hearts filled with glee. They had never expected it to fall into their hands like this.

_But what if she knows? _The nagging thought ripped through Umi's mind. _What if this is all a trap? She must know about the spell, she must know we'd try it. She must have been waiting for three girls, or three guards, or three anything, to fall into her lair. What if…?_ She closed the voice off and pulled a picture of her uniform tight around her, as if it could be used as a shield to what they were about to face.

Fuu fell behind the man, hanging just far enough back so they wouldn't be overheard but not so far that it looked shady, "I think we're being set up."

Umi sighed in relief and nodded, Hikaru doubled her action.

"This has been too easy," Hikaru confessed all their thoughts, and the two nodded in simultaneous agreement.

"And her study is a little too personal for my taste," Fuu grimaced, pretending to be admiring a nearby tapestry as she passed, not looking as if she was talking to either of the two. Umi and Hikaru mirrored her action.

"So what do we do?" Umi asked, and Fuu grinned and closed her eyes, concentrating very hard on something. She stopped dead in her tracks, and the other two stopped as well, so the man guiding them turned around, just as bewildered as Umi and Hikaru.

In another second, she pulled herself out of the self-induced trance and turned to the man, "I'm very sorry, but we're going to have to leave. One of my agents just contacted me and said there was something else about the story we were to bring to the Lady, and I will not report to her with anything less than the entire story," she apologized, very genuine seeming. It took Hikaru and Umi all they had not to gape in surprise. Instead, they just took postures that seemed very casual, as if this happened all the time and prayed that the man didn't know more about them than they thought. If Mala was as smart as she said she was, she wouldn't have told anything more to her men than she was expecting a pair of three agents, and they were to be escorted to her immediately. They wouldn't know any more or less, so when three guards appeared to them, they would be directed to her chambers. But, if three girls had appeared, the effect would have been the same, her orders would have been generic, to ensure her power as a commander, and make sure everyone _knew_ that she was still in control enough to keep her orders secret.

The man looked at them curiously and then nodded, "Wouldn't want to provoke her with half the story," he admitted earnestly, and they thanked him and headed back the direction they'd come from. As soon as they were out of his sight, they ducked into a dark corner and began to confer in hushed whispers.

"I have an idea," Fuu told them quickly, "but we'll have to do it quickly, because that man will surely alert Mala of our presence."

Umi and Hikaru nodded, and Fuu took a deep breath, closed her eyes and sighed.

"We're going to need to split up, that way she won't find any one of us, and she won't know where to look. I'm going to act as a decoy to distract her…"

"No way Fuu-chan."

"Fuu!" Umi and Hikaru scolded together, but she stopped them with a hand.

"Come on, listen, this is the best way. I'll act as a decoy and distract her, disguised of course, wander around the castle, looking like I'm lost. She'll find me, and I can hold her off long enough, so you two can get the vital part done. You'll be able to tell when things get desperate if I call my sword or use magic. Now, you two will have to get rid of all the guards."

"All of the guards? But we came here for Mala, and you won't be able to fight her alone, I don't like it," Umi protested, but Fuu shook her head, and for a second Umi saw through her disguise to the Fuu she loved and trusted with all her heart.

"But all three of us won't be able to handle her and all her creatures. It's not like you're killing _people_ Umi-san," Fuu explained. "These people are all lost in dreaming to her. When you get them down to the kill stroke, simply order them to picture home, and they'll go back to their families in Cephiro, I think. It's more as if you're…freeing them. She'll have to force them to fight you; their old selves know that we're the Magic Knights, and that'll take a lot of strength. It'll distract her from me, and that'll keep her busy until you get them all, and you can come to my aid."

"But how are we to do this?" Hikaru's eyes were loaded with the worry all of them felt.

"I'm not sure," Fuu admitted. "I just know that's what we'll have to do, to save all of them and ourselves."

"I think I can handle that one," Umi grinned and called up an image in her mind, so that her guard uniform changed and twisted, and Fuu and Hikaru could only step back and stare in awe.

It was Umi, they knew it was, but she had _changed. _Her long blue hair was the same length, but it was curled and fell down her back in lavender waves, and her ocean blue eyes turned to a dark purple. The outfit she wore was hardly an outfit at all. Her whole body was wrapped in a soft blue silk that covered only what was necessary. Her lithe form twisted and silver chains dropped down over sensuous hips while she moved with such grace that her motions seemed to melt into one another. Hikaru paled in awe, Fuu turned green with envy for a split second, because not all of that was disguise.

"Distracting?" Umi jested, and the two nodded, breaking out into smiles.

"And…" Hikaru stood and changed her own appearance to that of an older guard, taller, thicker, with black hair just turning silver and hard, cold blue eyes that didn't seem to fit Hikaru at all. "I think I can arrange that there's an operative inside them."

Fuu nodded her approval, "Now, when you've finished your half, picture me as hard as you can, the real me, and step forward. I think that'll take you to Mala and me. Then…well, then we see what comes."

The other two nodded and all three put their hands together before stepping back to give one another a last glance, and then Hikaru and Umi slipped out of the darkness, headed in one direction, while Fuu gathered herself, took a deep breath, and headed in the opposite, praying that her plan would work, for all of Cephiro.

* * *

"What do you mean they _left?_" Mala shrieked, and the man cowered in fear. His Mistress angry was not what anyone wanted to be faced with.

"I-I d-don't know M-My Lady, they simply s-said they h-had to obtain th-the rest of th-th-the story, a-and th-they left," he stammered, panting and sweating profusely. The sight of him sickened her to the point where she found it hard to be in his presence any longer. They were all cowards and weaklings, every last one of them. She curled her face up in distaste and drummed her fingers on her throne.

"Very well," she hissed, slamming him into the ground with her magic, refusing to listen to his dribble about a family back in Cephiro. "Get out of my sight."

He did a quick bow and fled as fast as his fat feet would carry him.

"Worthless," she growled and turned toward her crystal. "All of them worthless, and the seals weakening. Soon that damn Prince will be loose and his father, oh, his father," the thought of her love made her blood heat up and rage fill her all at once. It was an awful combination of hate and lust that poured through her. Oh, she would have her revenge on him; she simply had to be patient. The Magic Knights couldn't have left her domain, the Master Mage would have warned them of that. No, no, they were here, somewhere, and on her turf, she'd _make_ them take the Tests. In her mind she was already devising them; the worst would be for that little blue haired bitch that had dared defy her. Oh yes, it was just a matter of time now, a sick smile curled onto her once beautiful face, and she laughed to herself. The laugh started as a soft chuckle, but it crescendoed into a hateful cackle that racked the halls of her empty throne room. She just had to be patient; the little rats would make themselves known, even if that damned Wind Knight was leading them. They had to slip up eventually, and when they did, she'd be ready for them.

* * *

"Umi," he whispered and reached a hand out in the darkness, trying to reach the gates that would open for him. He knew if he just pushed hard enough the seals would break; and he'd be free. He could warn her. _But,_ a voice deep inside warned him to be careful, _if you escape your father will as well. He wants what you want._ That thought sent shivers down his spine, so he pulled his hand away. Could they really face his father _and_ Mala? Before, once before they had been able to, but now…he looked at the wreck that had once been King and scowled. No, now they could never stand up to them both. His father had sold his soul in his last dying breaths for the magic that would save him; the magic that his son had, and he never possessed. _No,_ he thought to himself, _it would never do to let that man loose upon the world._

"Stupid boy," he hissed as he approached the shapeless ball of energy that had once been his cherished son. "Wasting all your magic to save that girl, you could have used it to save _us_. You always were so foolhardy. I should have done away with you the minute I discovered you were competition; she would have born me the sons I needed to secure my reign."

He wanted to strike out his father, verbally, mentally, magically, anything. If he had still had his body, he would have, but there was no use in trying; he would only beat him back with his magic. How much longer would his spirit last here? He knew he was crippled; he was hanging on with every fingernail. Should he just let go and finally let his battered soul find the peace his body had possessed for thousands of years? Why should he be forced to linger here, like this? He was of no use to her now, she wasn't even the same girl he remembered, but…_No,_ he refused to let himself think like that, _she doesn't have the same body, but neither do __I.__ Her eyes assure me her spirit is still there, and that's all that matters. No, I will have to keep pushing until she's safe, then I'll fade away. _

"Well, now, that's interesting, _very_ interesting," his father whispered in the darkness, and he had to debate with himself as to whether or not he would ask first.

"What?" he finally decided to snap viciously.

"It seems," the ball of energy that was his father towered over his meek form. "That your Magic Knights entered Mala's Palace and then simply disappeared. She's very distraught over the whole thing, despite her outward calm. This is good news indeed. With Mala out of the way, I'll be free to take the Magic Knight of Water at my own leisure. There will be nothing in my way, not the Knights, not the Master Mage, not even Cephiro."

"You're wrong," his voice dripped with hatred for the man that had raised him. Never once in his life had he felt a drop of compassion or concern for or from this man, and he didn't even think of him as father. To his father, he had always been another pawn to be manipulated in the same way he manipulated all his other underlings. "There are things working against you that you'll never understand because you'll never have them."

"There is nothing that I can't or won't have, my son, that's the thing you never understood. You think things like love and friendship will stop me, but you're wrong. There is nothing that power and influence can't buy," he said it with such calm sincerity it sent fire through his veins. How could anyone believe that?

Instead of fighting back, knowing the brutal punishment that would come of it, he simmered in his own anger and bit his proverbial tongue. This, of course, caused the man he had once called father, to laugh maliciously and turn back to his "lock picking".

_Umi my love, _he thought desperately, _please be swift, please be strong.

* * *

_

"Any news?" Ferio asked anxiously when Clef entered the dining hall, looking worn and strained at best, ready to faint at worst. Clef simply shook his head before collapsing into the nearest chair at the head of the table, waiting for Presea to serve him a glass of fruit juice which he downed quickly before he spoke.

"No, they're still safely dreaming," he answered, then bit back his words. Safely hadn't been the _best_ choice there. While the Magic Knights' _presence_ had vanished from their bodies, their bodies still lingered in Cephiro while their minds roamed freely throughout Mala's dream world. The last Clef had checked, which was a few moments ago, they were still unconscious but breathing.

"And anything that happens to them in that world, will affect them in this?" Eagle asked weakly, needing to hear it one more time to believe it. Not his Hikaru, she could survive anything. She _had_ survived everything!

Clef nodded, and Eagle's eyes dropped instantly. He didn't want to consider the possibilities, "All we can do now is pray and wait."

"And eat," Presea glided into the room, followed by Caldina, both carrying huge plates of food. They set them on the table and waited for those in the room to gather round. After everyone was situated, Presea took count and looked around curiously. "Where's Ascot?"

"Still missing," Lafarga answered quietly.

"He's been gone as long as the Knights," Clef observed more casually than he felt.

"I'll go find him then," Caldina rose, but Clef stopped her.

"No, he's my student, and I fear that he may be in a place too dark for you to penetrate," Clef rose heavily, but with no Ascot there to urge him to sit he stayed standing. That in itself was unnerving. Ascot would never abandon his duty to his teacher easily; there was something sorely wrong.

* * *

_Ascot__ turned in the darkness. Where were the voices coming from? Who was arguing? He could hear them as if they were right next to him, yet he couldn't find them. What was going on? Where _were_ these confounded people? He was almost positive they were talking about Umi, but why couldn't he reach them? _

_He had the vaguest awareness that he wasn't entirely _there_. When he looked down to his hands, he found that he had none; he was a glowing green and brown ball of energy, simply hovering in the darkness with no destination and no purpose. He was helpless…again. He gritted his teeth, or…would have, just like he was helpless to help the Knights? Just like he was helpless to fight Mala? Just like he had always been helpless. That last thought nagged at him, an itching wound that never quite healed properly. He'd endangered them so long ago, and even if Umi thanked him now, he could have done so much more to help them to heal. He should have simply spoken up, if he had…But ifs and buts were no use to him now, and he knew it. Maybe, maybe here he could be of use, if he could just find a way to talk to these creatures, whatever they were. He would force them to take him to the Knights, and they would come out, with or without Mala, just so that they came out. _Princess protect us, _he thought breathlessly and resumed his search for the voices that had gone quiet while he'd been berating himself. _

_"Sh…someone's coming, do you feel it? Someone's penetrated our seals," the voice that sounded through the darkness was half mad, __Ascot__ was sure of it. There was a fanatic obsession in his voice, an obsession that he lusted after blindly. Where was he? Could he seriously get help from a half mad man who was trapped in darkness? He was ready to call it quits and leave when he realized that these might be people that had been trapped by Mala herself, in the dreamlike world that she ruled. What if they could simply lead him to Mala? That thought was terrifying and exhilarating. Wherever Mala was, the Knights were, and he could help them. He knew he could, if he could only get there! _

_The other voice grunted in pain, as if he'd been recently attacked, and from the grunt, __Ascot__ could tell the man was much younger, and probably much saner. That was a hopeful thought. _

_"Who are you? How did you get here?" the first voice bellowed, and __Ascot__'s ball of light jumped back when he saw it. _

_There were two balls of light there, one was a deep black that blended in easily with the nothingness, so that Ascot would have stumbled upon it and still not seen it until it made itself known, but the other, much weaker ball, was a glittering green and brown, much like his own. _

_"I…I'm apprenticed to the Master Mage of Cephiro, Guru Clef, I came here of my own free will searching for the Magic Knights of Cephiro," Ascot announced unsteadily, not sure he would have a voice without a body, but his voice resounded true throughout the nothingness, and he almost shied back just from the sound of it. _This is odd,_ he thought to himself. _I'm missing some of the puzzle. I know it.

_"The Magic Knights?" that seemed to have pricked an interest in the first man's voice, and even the other green glow appeared to brighten a little. "What do you want with the Magic Knights?"_

_"They are my friends, and they're in trouble. I want to bring them home," he answered unsteadily. Who was this man, and how much could he trust him? _Best to stick with the basics;_Ascot__ coached himself, schooling his tongue. "Where am I exactly?"_

_"Well, that would be the most interesting of questions," the first voice laughed a laugh that was most certainly mad and made evil thoughts creep down Ascot's spine. "Why don't you come closer, and I'll explain?"_

_"No!" the voice that was clearly that of the green ball exploded, and before Ascot could do anything, the light had broken onto him and filled him up, knocking him from the darkness and back into the real world, the sound of the first voice echoing painfully in his ears. The last thing he remembered was waking with Clef by his side, worried; yet, the words that fell from his lips were not his own…

* * *

_

"Jesus, what's the reason for these **scars** that will **never** **heal**, **_hearts_** that no longer **_feel_**, _eyes_ that can no longer _see_?

And Jesus, what's the reason for this child that will not **survive**, with all her **_dreams_** inside, could she mean _nothing_ to thee?

And Jesus please tell me if you can recall, just where you were when this **_sparrow did fall_**?

Jesus what's the reason every **_tear_**isn't **weighed the same**, could you have died in **_vain_**, if we have **_short_** _memories_?

And Jesus would you then come down from your cross, return every nail and say we are **_lost_**?

And in the **_dark we speak, this silent company_**, with each _hope_ that arrives and **fades** from memory

Still after all this time, our **loss you won't concede**, for in the **_dead of night_**, rumor is, your hands they still **bleed**…"

Savatage, Poets and Madmen, Rumor


	7. Possession

§Hey Guys! Um...not to be a downer or anything, but, well...I didn't get _any_ reviews last chapter for this story, and very few for my other. I dunno if you're all mad at me or something and refusing to review, but I'm really really sorry for the delays. I can promise you at least another chapter of this, another chapter of my other story and the beginnings of something new if you'll just review! Com'on I'm giving you puppy dog eyes here! Please! I thrive on reviews and right now I'm in a dryspell. Even if they're mean! I don't even care! Pretty please? Okay, well, enough of the begging, on with the chapter.§

Chapter Seven: Possession

Prince Caldar rose his weary head and rolled his cramped shoulders, prying one eye open gently only to slam it shut once more. _Oh mercy, _he thought frantically, _I have a body, but it's not mine. So I…so I?_

_Yep,_ his mind answered him, _you did._

Panic-stricken, he began to dig through his stolen body for any source of the boy who he'd accidentally stolen it from. When he found nothing, his worst thoughts became reality. He and the boy had switched places. He hadn't intended for that to happen; he'd simply wanted to protect him from his father!

Caldar's first thought was to return to his cell and offer the boy his body back, and he would have done just that, except for the two things stopping him. One was the fact that he didn't know how he got _out_ of his cell in the first place, let alone how to get back _in_. The second was that he knew his father would simply steal the body and kill the both of them given half a chance. But his father knew him too, he would expect Caldar to return for the boy, and that would keep them both alive until he _could_ come back with help. In the meantime, Caldar couldn't return, and his father couldn't kill the boy because he knew Caldar would feel it and only an idiot would come to retrieve a dead spirit.

Slightly more cheerful, he ventured to open his borrowed eye once more, and he was met with a storm of color that would have blinded him if the light wasn't artificial. Even with more enlightened eyes the light stung his mind that had lived in darkness for thousands of years.

After the pain receded slightly, he dared to open the other eye and take in his surroundings. He was in a large, comfortable feather bed, covered in silk sheets and a warm down comforter, all of which felt blissfully _real._ Everything was totally solid, from the colorful tapestries lining the walls to the brightly dancing flame on the quickly melting candle on the sturdy oak table next to his bed. He sighed happily and would have gladly melted into the pillows to enjoy the newly realized beauty of the world, except someone beside him was stirring.

"I was afraid you'd never come out of the darkness," said a weak but extremely knowledgeable voice to his right. "I thought I'd have to go in there and drag you out by the scruff of your neck," by the rustling of cloth, Caldar guessed the man was moving, and the room slowly began to brighten. The new scent of burning candles made him sneeze, which almost made him weep in joy. He'd been in that cell so long he'd forgotten what if felt like to have an actual body. "How many times have I told you that you can't just throw yourself in harm's way like that? No matter how hard you wish it, you cannot go gallivanting in there and save them; I don't care what you feel for Umi."

"Umi?" It somehow seemed appropriate that that would be the first word he would actually _speak_ in thousands of years.

The man spun on his heels and loomed over him even though he could only be a little over four feet tall, "Who are you?" he boomed, despite his child-like form. "You're not Ascot." The small man raised a giant white staff in a defensive posture, ready to banish him if he had to.

"Please, don't," Caldar struggled with the words; Cephiran seemed to have changed slightly since he'd last heard it spoken, and his mind fumbled for words that would make sense. "I want to aid – to help – you," he offered, but the man didn't lower his staff.

"Where is Ascot? What have you done with him?" he questioned instead, eyes narrowing angrily.

"I – it is a long story," he sighed. Ascot? That must be the boy whose body he'd taken, and he was the Water Knight's current lover? Well, that would explain what he was doing poking around his father's cell. For a moment, jealousy ravaged his heart. Why shouldn't he keep this body and this body's lover? Umi was _his_ true love; he'd condemned himself to thousands of years of purgatory for her, and even if she was only a reincarnation of _his_ Umi, she was still his love deep down. This boy, however noble his intentions, could never possibly love her the way Caldar did. He might be stupid enough to die for her, but would he face something worse than death? He thought not, since he had only said the Magic Knights were his "friends".

_Those thoughts are not only unbecoming, they make you sound like your father, _his conscience spat at him, and he shuddered and silently agreed. This was a different time and a different place, this girl was only a piece of his memories of Umi, not the real thing. His time was past, but he could still make sure his father faced the same passage of time.

"By the Will of Cephiro," the man mumbled and finally lowered his staff, "you're speaking the old language, from the time when Pillar and King worked together. Just _who_ are you?" the man had mercifully reverted to speaking the old language which had been abolished with the last great King. Most of it was the same, but some of his phrases were strange. Almost everyone but a few scholars and the Master Mage had completely forgotten the existence of the language.

Caldar sighed again, already weary with the weight of what was to come, "Perhaps you should sit down…"

"Hey boys!" Hikaru called in a burly voice as she stepped into a room full of all the soldiers she had gathered.

"Why did you bring us here?" someone whined.

"What if the Lady finds out? She won't be happy," someone else mentioned, and the tension in the room immediately increased.

Hikaru just sent them a charming smile, held her hands to the door Umi was supposed to enter at and answered plainly, "You might want to make an exception my fine lads…"

Umi took her verbal cue from Hikaru and sauntered in slowly, taking long, graceful steps so the nearly translucent skirt she wore parted and revealed her slender white legs.

The minute she stepped into the room, all questioning ceased, and Hikaru smirked to herself. _Now all we'll have to do is keep them distracted, wait for Fuu-chan to draw her sword, send these guys home and go beat the bad guy, or girl, in this case. This will be as easy as pie. Well, when Umi's baking at least, maybe not when I am…_

As they'd expected, it didn't take long for the men to get rowdy, hollering, getting a bit too close for Umi's comfort. _Maybe I should have toned it down some,_ she grimaced, but had to focus on her disguise. This was how it was, and at least they hadn't gotten violent…yet.

As if on cue, someone grabbed for her skirt which would have ripped easily in half if it hadn't been an illusion. Instead, he grabbed the leather of the knee high boots she was _actually_ wearing, "Hey!" but before he could voice his discovery, Umi rolled to ground level and threw her foot out beneath him, knocking him to the ground. She approached slowly, seductively, sauntering toward him while he struggled to get up. "You," he whispered softly, and she put a finger to her lips and shook her head, reaching down and touching his lips with hers, so delicately it couldn't even be considered a kiss.

"You wouldn't want anyone to hurt me now, would you?" she asked softly in his ear, and he shook his head and backed off. That, of course, had more men trying to grab her, and only Hikaru's frequent shouts kept them away. _Hurry Fuu,_ she begged in her mind, sweat dripping down her brow from concentration and worry. _Please hurry._

Fuu wandered the halls aimlessly, holding fast to her disguise, sneaking around corners and hiding in the darkness. Fortunately, her plan and Umi's costume had the halls pretty much empty except for the few female servants Mala had in her service, which Fuu found to be very few indeed. That in itself was typical, which put hope into the Wind Knight's heart. So far, she'd been able to predict every move Mala would make just because the villain was so much like every other villain she'd ever read about. If she had been a different person, she would have let her giddiness get to her, but she wasn't, and she forced herself to keep a level head and continue looking lost.

"Excuse me, mam," a very harried and distraught woman rushed forward and curtsied in front of Fuu. "You wouldn't happen to be one of the three scouts that were here to inform My Lady of certain…events…would you?"

Fuu's eyes narrowed, so Mala knew she was in the Palace and what she was to look for, but she wouldn't confront her herself. She wanted to play on her turf then? Fuu gave the woman a blank expression and shook her head, "No, I only travel alone," she responded simply, and the woman curtsied quickly and went back to her search. "You might want to try down that way though; most of the guards are having some…entertainment."

The woman smiled and thanked her, heading in the direction she had pointed. _Good,_ Fuu told herself, _at least that'll send her home as well. I just wish it didn't have to come with pain. They're going to wake up wounded, I hope Umi and Hikaru know that and don't play too hard. _

As soon as the woman was out of sight, Fuu concentrated and changed her disguise, adding more silver to her muddy brown hair and broadening her shoulders while shortening her stature. _There,_ she grinned triumphantly. _This is almost more handy than magic, but I know that I'm going to run out of energy before too long. Better make this quick. _

Fuu thought long and hard, so Mala knew they were still here, but she wanted to fight on her own ground. The only way to balances that would be to hide someplace where Mala would be sure to find her, but only if it was _she_ who was looking. Somewhere open, where there was nothing Mala could use against them except her mind. Somewhere like…_a throne room._ Her eyes widened in realization, of course, that was where they had to fight, and she happened to know there was one, because in her dream Mala had been tapping her fingers on a throne. No one would guess Fuu would manage to get into the throne room without permission; no one except Mala. And when she came looking, Fuu would be ready. Nodding to herself, she closed her eyes, thought hard and long of the throne, on which Mala had sat in her dream, took one step forward, and found herself in a huge, gilded hall. The ceiling seemed to stretch into infinity and even the marble pillars were jewel encrusted. The celestory windows allowed for the maximum amount of light without making the room a target of invasion, and besides the pillars and a large throne at the front of the room, it was entirely empty, which would force people attending Mala to stand. It was exactly what Fuu would have expected from a woman like her, so she wasn't surprised when she found it.

She approached the throne which was made of solid ebony and lined with every gem found in her world or Cephiro. It was terribly gaudy, and she knew if Umi was here, she would have wrinkled her nose up in distaste. It took Fuu an awful lot not to do it herself. Instead, she took the right course of action, skipped up the few steps to the throne and sat down, facing the only door into the room, grinning widely. _Now, to wait…_

_Ascot__ woke with his entire spirit aching. He wondered at that. He was almost sure he would have awoken with pained muscles or an angry headache, but there was nothing of the sort, only an empty longing, as if he'd been bereft of something dearly important. _Odd,_ he thought to himself and looked around. Then, fear crept into him, he wasn't in his palace rooms, in fact, there was nothing in this place that made him believe he was in Cephiro at all. There was only darkness, and when he looked for his trembling hands for some comfort, he found there was nothing there except a green and brown flecked orb._

_"Ah, so you've finally awakened," __Ascot__ turned his "eyes" to the noise and barely made out the black energy ball from his dream._

So, _he reasoned grimly, _it wasn't a dream.

_"I suppose you're wondering where you are," the ball went on with a superior air that grated on __Ascot__'s gentle spirit. No one should hold himself as high as this man did, and it annoyed him that he would. Clearly, neither of them were in a predicament that boasted much pride, since neither had bodies, and Ascot found it hard to believe a man with such inbred haughtiness would ever opt _not_ to have a body or to wither away in darkness with no one to see him for that matter. "Well," the man continued, "you're in my cell, and I presume my son stole your body." He said it with so much matter-of-factness that __Ascot__ had to examine him closer to make sure he was serious. No one half serious could put something like that so lightly. _

_That was when he realized that the reason he could distinguish the black figure at all was because there were little flecks of gold in it, warring with the black that __Ascot__ now saw as insanity. Gold, so the brown flecks he had seen in the other man's energy must not have been brown at all; they were gold as well. _Father and son,_ he told himself, reaffirming what the man had already said. He moved backward at the realization: gold, like Ferio, gold, the symbol of royalty, a father and son in a cell, the color of royalty burning in their spirits. _Then this must be King Taro,_Ascot__ concluded grimly, _and I'm in for a lot of trouble.

Fuu had only been sitting in her newly acquired throne for a few moments when Mala entered, obviously perturbed. She leaned back and waited for her enemy to notice her, allowing herself a second of congratulations on finally getting the upper hand over her despised rival.

Mala shut the large oak doors to her throne room with her mind and then turned, only to lock eyes with the Magic Knight of Wind who was sitting comfortably on _her_ throne, one leg over the other, disguise shed, knowing eyes smiling, hands resting casually on the arm rests of her seat of power. Mala's ego flared, how _dare_ she? That little…feelings of anger churned, but she forced herself to keep an outward calm. Anger was a weakness, and they both knew it. Mala saw no reason to let the Wind Knight know she was anymore than disgruntled.

"Ah, my clever little Wind Knight; I expected something like this," Mala cooed, coming forward slowly, making sure she didn't seem the least bit concerned. But inside, she was calculating. Where were the other two? This was clearly a trap, but how did it work?

Fuu smiled but made no move to get up from her seat, "I'm sure you did," she parried. Fuu was as deft with words as Umi with swords and Hikaru with magic. She would play the game, and she would win.

"So tell me lovely, where are your pals?" Mala stopped and let a small sneer slip through her pleasantries.

"Touring the palace with your men," Fuu snapped, curling her face in mock rage.

"Ah, ah," Mala twisted a finger and took the bait, "Don't let that get to you, or you might fail my Test. So...the other two were caught, but that doesn't mean you can't be Tested. You know, I always admired you Fuu; you were always intelligent, and underappreciated. Hikaru the strong Pillar, Umi the illusive beauty, and you, quiet, soft-spoken, no attention getter, but ever-present, and you never seemed to care. But I know, deep down, you're envious. You have all of Umi's angst with none of her grace and all of Hikaru's passion with none of her spirit. I know all about getting the short end of the stick Fuu, trust me," Mala had neared the base of the throne when the sword appeared in front of her. "And I also know something about remedying it. Take it Fuu, take it and help me, help yourself become what you've always dreamed."

§I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but the title isn't really mine. We played this piece of music in band like two years ago called "Legend of the Sword" it was a piece in three movements about Excalibur, there was a theme for Merlin, Arthur and the Lady of the Lake, and it was an incredible song. If any of you are in a band I'd highly recommend you asking your band instructor about ordering it. It's really a simple piece, but it's got a lot of power when it's played right . Well, that's my plug! Review and I'll see you soon!§


	8. Cornered

Chapter Eight: Cornered

Indeed, Clef did have to sit down for Caldar to tell his tale, and by the time he'd told it, Clef was pale in wonder, "I – knew the legend, but I never knew the details," he breathed, and Caldar smiled faintly.

"I'm amazed my story has survived the ages. Tell me, how many years has it been?"

"3589," Clef answered solemnly, "or so we estimate."

Caldar chuckled at that, "I see the Master Mages haven't changed as much as the language."

Clef smiled and nodded, "No, I suppose we haven't. Do you feel well enough to stand? I would like the others to meet you."

Caldar made an attempt to swing his legs out from underneath the sheets and managed to stand shakily with the Master Mage's help.

"Well, it seems you didn't damage Ascot's body any, now it's just a matter of remembering how to walk," Clef informed him, allowing Caldar to keep a steady hand on his staff, since he'd have to crawl to use the mage as a brace.

Caldar laughed, took a step forward and toppled over, "Easier said than done," he admitted as he pulled himself to his stolen feet and tried to conjure images of walking. Unfortunately, he'd never really paid attention to walking too much, so the images weren't sticking. When he finally found one, a memory of him striding forward to pull the Water Knight into his arms, he tried again and found he was successful. Smiling triumphantly, he took another step and soon found himself strolling down the halls, the Master Mage struggling to keep up.

He wanted to run, to jump, to laugh, to cry out to the heavens, and only his well-trained mind stopped him. He was a prince; he had to act dignified.

"Ascot!" he looked up and saw someone bounding toward him, a boy just becoming a man with a forest of green hair and a scar across his face that made him look older than he really was. "Did you find them? Are they all right? Tell me man, is Fuu-chan okay?" he grabbed Caldar's shoulders and shook him desperately. _Who is this lunatic? _Caldar thought to himself, shaking off the newcomer, who pulled back, his distress written across his face. "She's all right, right? You saw them, didn't you? Say _something,_ damn it!"

"Ferio," Clef pulled the man back, and his golden eyes turned toward Clef.

_Golden eyes? _Caldar shook his head in disgust. That was no way for a Prince of Cephiro to act! What if his people saw him like that? How could he lead his people when his emotions clearly led him?

As if reading his mind, _as he probably is,_ Caldar added to the stray thought, Clef answered his questions, "Cephiro is different now, the king and the Pillar don't work together, in fact, there _is_ no Pillar. Ferio is just as free as any other civilian of Cephiro," he explained, and Caldar's eyes widened in shock. No Pillar? A king just a symbol? Who led the people then? Surely they couldn't manage themselves!

"Clef, why are you explaining that to Ascot?" Ferio looked stressed and confused, like a man on the edge, and Caldar spared himself a second of pity for the young man.

"Because Ferio, this is not Ascot, merely someone who used a wrong spell in trying to _save_ Ascot. Prince Ferio, meet Prince Caldar. I guess you could say he's your great-great grandfather," Clef gave Caldar a sideways glance, and Caldar grinned.

"No, no, I didn't have any children; the line who took over must have been entirely new."

Ferio just stared, jaw hanging, "How?" he squeaked, and Clef ushered him into the dining hall where proper introductions and story telling could be done for everyone. Caldar sighed heavily and followed, knowing it was bound to be a long night.

* * *

_"So you're King Taro?" __Ascot__ was fairly surprised his words came out so easily considering he was half paralyzed with fear._

_"Making the one who stole your body Prince Caldar, yes, very clever boy.__ But then, I'd expect no less from someone apprenticed to the Master Mage."_

_"And why would Prince Caldar want my body?" __Ascot__ demanded, barely stopping his next words. _'I thought he was supposed to be the good guy.'

_"Well, originally he was simply trying to stop me from taking it, but now I suppose he'll go questing after the Water Knight to try and save her and her miserable and equally pesky friends. He'll probably declare his undying love and help her kill Mala and expect it to end happily. He always was too noble for his own good," Taro spat viciously, clearly distracted by something __Ascot__ would bet was a memory._

So it's true, about Umi's former self and Prince Caldar, _a twinge of pure hatred stripped __Ascot__'s senses to the bone. Who did this guy think he was? _First, he steals my body, and now he's going to steal Umi, and she doesn't even know how I feel. _Then came the regret, first at his instinctive hatred and then at his own stupidity._

_There he was, just before the Knights left, Umi so close he could feel her breath on his shoulder, pouring out her feelings while he just sat in a stupor. If she ran to Caldar it was only because he'd never said anything! She probably thought he didn't even care! At that moment, he didn't even care if she loved him or not so long as she knew! But she didn't, and he had only himself to blame. Cursing his idiocy a thousand times over, he resolved to find a way out of this cell and the first chance he got, he'd tell her, whether she'd run to Caldar or not, just so she knew she had other options._

_Satisfied with that plan of action, he pulled back into himself and began to think of ways to escape.

* * *

_

Fuu slapped the dark sword away with her mind, drawing her own sword in a signal to Hikaru and Umi to unravel their plan, "I would never," she whispered fiercely, and Mala smiled sickly and nodded.

"Very well then, let us see how long never is."

A blast of ice cold magic sent Fuu plunging into darkness, and when she looked up, she found that the darkness had turned into a crowded classroom. _Was she giving a lecture? Then why was everyone laughing?_

_She looked down to the podium and sudden horror made her so dizzy she almost collapsed. She was stark naked, and a fiery blush rose to her cheeks._ Think Fuu, clothes, get clothes, but…could this be a Test?

_She vaguely remembered Clef saying that her only option was to attack Mala, and_ only _Mala. She took hold of her emotions firmly, stepped from behind the podium and began to scan the multitude of hysterically giggling faces. She tried to think how funny it would be for one of her own professors to give a lecture completely nude, but that only made her face burn hotter. When she was sure that her ears were going to explode from the embarrassment the laughter caused her, she pinpointed her target in the crowd and called on her magic, "Imashime no Kaze!"_

Almost immediately, the image faded, and she was faced with a snarling Mala.

"Just because I have intelligence doesn't mean I wouldn't do stupid things," Fuu told her simply, which made the enraged woman hiss and lob another illusion at her. This one, Fuu cleverly evaded, rolling and coming up within striking distance of Mala, who jumped back and just barely missed Fuu's blade.

The two squared off and glared at one another, both waiting for the other to strike, "I'm looking forward to you joining my side Wind Knight," Mala taunted, but Fuu kept control, because little did Mala know, but she had another card up her sleeve, and that fact kept her calm. _Umi-san, Hikaru-san, hurry, _she pleaded as the two resumed their pacing.

* * *

"Now!" Hikaru yelled over the commotion the men were causing, and Umi and Hikaru shed their disguises immediately, drawing their swords. "As soon as we cast, imagine your homes and you're free!" Hikaru commanded before the compulsions set in, and the men were forced to move in. Hikaru nodded at Umi, and they both raised their hands. "Concentrate!" Hikaru screamed, gathering her magic around her.

"Koori no Yaiba!" Umi was the first to unleash the deadly magic, centering it so it hit a wide range and was therefore less lethal.

Hikaru countered with a similar toned done spell, "Akai Inazuma!"

The Water and Fire mingled together in a vicious union; the men didn't have a chance, and Hikaru only prayed they were concentrating. As the magic tore through them, one by one, they began to disappear until Umi saw she and Hikaru were the only ones still standing.

"Come on, let's go," Umi mumbled meekly, and Hikaru nodded and followed.

* * *

"Please, I know you all must have questions, but from what I can see, your Knights are in serious danger, and if I can, I want to help them," Caldar halted the onslaught of questions before they could begin, using the one thing he knew would stop them. "Tell me what happened."

So Clef retold the tale with the others filling in gaps, and when Caldar had the whole story, his eyes darkened. "I didn't know she'd grown that powerful. Very well," he sighed. "I will have to go to them."

"But how?" Presea blurted out after everyone's initial shock. "We don't have enough magic to perform that spell again!"

Caldar smiled wryly, "I've got some magic of my own," he told her, and they understood. Just because he was in Ascot's body didn't mean he was confined to Ascot's magic. Magic was a thing of spirit, and he had proved his spirit had stayed intact after 3500 years.

"I'll take you to them," Ferio offered, and he smiled and thanked them.

"And on the way, I think I'm ready to hear what became of _my_ Knights, after I lost them."

Eagle stood, "That is indeed a sad tale; perhaps, I should accompany you for the telling. I've learned much in my stay here, and that is one ending I should like to spare the people of this land."

* * *

Umi and Hikaru threw the doors to the throne room open, tracing Fuu's magic easily, both silently thanking Clef for teaching them that particular skill as they did.

"Took you long enough!" Fuu called teasingly, and Mala spun and gasped in horror.

"Hey, we were busy!" Hikaru shouted back defensively as the two took fighting stances, creating a triangle around the cornered Mala.

They all knew it the minute desperation leapt into her eyes- a cornered animal was dangerous, and they'd cornered her.

"Akai Inazuma!"

"Midori no Senpuu!"

"Imashime no Kaze!"

But the three attacks met an impenetrable shield forged of fear and need. That was when Umi found herself the target. Somewhere in Mala's twisted, depraved mind, she decided that if she was going to die, she was going to take Umi with her, and a suicidal fanatic was the worst kind.

"Umi-chan!" but Hikaru's lunge toward her friend was too late, and Mala had her. She grabbed her with her magic, freezing her in her tracks. "Time to die Water Knight," she whispered hatefully as Umi struggled in her grasps.

Fuu and Hikaru battered Mala's shield with magic and swords as she approached Umi, but she didn't budge, and Umi's eyes widened in terror. _I should have told him,_ she thought as Mala's hands fell to her throat, a sick gleam in her eyes.

* * *

"The Water Knight took her own life in grief," Eagle told him quietly, "and the other two buried themselves in trifles until they were taken as well."

Caldar choked on his pain; he had to maintain face. Why would she do that? He'd given his life to save her! And she'd thrown it away! Yet, he coveted the power of their love that she could not live without him. How much of his love was in this new Knight? Could he somehow…_No,_ he shook his head, _my Umi is waiting for me somewhere; I can't steal this new Knight's life, just like I can't steal this body…_

"This body I'm currently in residence of, are he and the Water Knight lovers?" Caldar's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. _Why did I ask that? What's come over me that I can't even control my words? I need to get a grip._

"Umi and Ascot?" the Prince called Ferio snorted; something a Prince of _his_ day would never do. Things had to be changing, "No, Ascot's loved Umi for years, and everyone seems to know it but her."

"Umi is a very insightful girl except when it comes to her own love life then she doesn't have a clue," Eagle added, and Caldar couldn't help but let a little pride show. _He_ certainly wouldn't have hesitated in telling her his feelings; clearly this Ascot was a coward.

"Here we are," Ferio mumbled grimly, and stopped at a large wooden door, not caring to enter but feeling he must.

"Right this way," Eagle herded them both in.

Caldar's breath stopped in his throat, there on three beds, the girls lie in a solemn visual, breathing elevated as if they were in battle. On the far right was the Water Knight, and his body ached at just the sight of her, "Umi-chan," he whispered. She didn't look so much different than his Umi, only more beautiful if anything. Any words he might have said were stopped in his throat as he neared, then sat carefully on the bed to stroke her long blue hair. "I'm coming," he promised when she whimpered, then turned back to Ferio and Eagle. "I'll be back in an hour, make sure the Guru is here."

They nodded stiffly, and Caldar surrounded himself in magic, inducing the trance-like state the three Knights were in, then collapsed onto the bed.

* * *

"I see a little man sitting and he's wondering

If over his little **plot** he might be **_King_**

He finds his _present world a little boring_

There's no land that is so small that it cannot **divide**

So come on _draw the line_ and you just **pick your side**

Ignoring anyone who gives a **_warning_**

For I am the _answer_ you seek

The **dream in your sleep**

You never wanted to **awaken** and

I am the **_plan_** that won't **fail**

The **_crime_** without _trail_

**_And all I really need right now is you_**

I see a little man thinking that _he might need more_

And so his eyes are drifting to the house next door

He wonders if his neighbors might be _leaving_

So he makes a **little offer** that they're understand

There's no point in letting **_things get out of hand_**

For no one wants to see their widows **_grieving_**."

Savatage, I Am, Dead Winter Dead


	9. The Fall of the Final Pillar

A/n: I'm going to be heading out to a national competition on Sunday, so I won't be updating for eight days while I'm away. I'm going to try and make sure I update as soon as I get home (if I have another chapter written by then); I don't want to leave you hanging too too long, so in the meantime I hope this satisfies…

Chapter Nine: The Fall of the Final Pillar

The minute Caldar was in the dreamscape, he pictured Mala and began to run forward, right into the throne room, right in the way of Mala's path to Umi. He didn't think, just drew a fiery sword he'd pictured in his mind and lunged at her. Mala shrieked and jumped away, throwing a sloppily aimed ball of water his way.

"How did you get free?" she hissed, but Caldar just stared at her calmly, refusing to give an answer. "Is your father here?"

"I suppose you'd like to know that," he responded calmly, neither angry nor amused, simply stone faced. Fuu complimented his style even in the heat of battle. This man was clearly a good ally to have, whoever he was. And Mala seemed to know him; did she ask if he'd gotten free? Free from where?

Mala sneered and shook her head, "No, I don't care frankly; if he is free, I'll just kill him like I killed his son."

_Click._ Fuu nodded to Caldar, and he nodded back; she knew who he was, there wouldn't be any trouble for him.

Umi simply stared at the back of the man who had intercepted Mala, literally breaking the connection between the woman's hands and her neck. His voice was calm and powerful, the absolute picture of authority, and a strange stirring twisted in her stomach. For some reason, she felt herself drawn to this man, aching to see his face, wondering what it could be that drew her, afraid and excited of the attraction all at the same time.

Mala leapt forward, feigning attack at Caldar, then spun and lobbed an illusion spell at the unsuspecting Hikaru who was immediately drawn into the game.

_"Umi-san!"__ Fuu screamed, and Hikaru shook her head. There she was, facing Mala, Umi in her grips. She drew her sword and was about to launch herself at Mala when she realized that there was someone missing. That mysterious stranger, where had he gone? She looked around her, searching, but there was no one. _

_"Where'd he go?"_

_"Hikaru-san!__ Quickly!" Fuu shouted at her as Mala choked the life out of Umi._

_"No," Hikaru whispered, "This can't be real."_

_"Hikaru!"__ Fuu shrieked, unable to move. "She's going to kill Umi-san!"_

_Hikaru shook her head and let her sword be sucked into her ovum, "I'm sorry Fuu-chan, Umi-chan," she made herself look into Umi's blue eyes that had glazed over for lack of oxygen. "I know this isn't real," she began to chant to herself, "I know this isn't real. I know this _is not real_!"_

Hikaru threw her eyes opened and glared viciously at Mala, who was beside herself in worry. The Knights were not taking her Tests! How could this be?

"They won't take them Mala, they love their country too much," Caldar answered her unspoken question in a cool monotone.

"Who are you?" Umi murmured almost to herself while she dredged through her mind for some kind of clue to the strange mystery.

Caldar tried not to wince, but the slight shock that entered his eyes at her cruel words gave Mala the upper hand for a second.

"Does it hurt you Caldar? That she doesn't remember? Does it make you regret your decisions?"

"She isn't the same girl that I entered exile for," Caldar sparred serenely, building mental defenses to whatever Mala would fling at him next.

"No, she isn't, that girl was the one who bore you a child and then took her own life in grief, isn't that right?"

There were no defenses that could have prepared him for what she said though, and shock and an intense grief immediately swarmed into his golden eyes.

"Oh!" Mala laughed gleefully, bringing her hands together and jumping like a child who'd just opened a very coveted Christmas present, "You didn't know that? You didn't know that the current Prince of Cephiro is your great-great grandson? I'm so glad to have taught you something new!"

Fuu reeled and took a step back, so this man was related to Ferio? She should have assumed it, but somehow she didn't. He didn't act like Ferio at all; he was reserved and quiet, calm and collected, he was more like Clef than her Prince. Still, those amber eyes were the same, and even in Cephiro, she'd come to learn that only royalty had amber eyes.

Caldar choked on the information, and Mala used that second of faltering against him, closing her eyes and materializing behind him and Umi, grabbing the Water Knight by her hair. Umi tried to spin, but Mala had a good hold of her by then, and she was left to swing blindly with a useless sword. "But you still love her, all the same, don't you?" Mala stroked one long finger down Umi's cheek as Umi made a stab at biting her. Caldar simply stared in fury and horror, trying in vain to hide it all under a mask that had been thoroughly shattered. It was bad enough that she killed herself, but to kill herself and leave an orphan in her wake? He had never thought of her like that, so weak and helpless, much like the newer version of her was now. Yet, he did still love her, even though what was in Mala's grip wasn't exactly her. There was still the same aura encircling her, a watery, passionate blue, stubborn and proud, yet silent and reserved. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

"I'll show you to my father if you let her go."

Mala immediately dropped her hold on Umi, who turned as quick as lightning and instinctively ran the enemy through.

The former Pillar's eyes snapped open in surprise and anguish as the blade of the Water Knight found her heart. Fuu wrapped a protective barrier around Umi just as Mala tried to cast a final spell on her friend, and Hikaru unleashed her powerful fire arrow, finishing off what Umi had started.

Blood dripped down Mala's battered corpse before it was incinerated; a dark black blood, something sickly and unnatural, and Umi turned her head, barely keeping the contents of her stomach in.

When it was over, the room was completely silent until Caldar approached the shaken Umi and offered a hand to her, "I'm Prince Caldar; and we…"

Umi stopped him by throwing herself into his arms, "Thank you, so much," she whispered before her eyes welled with tears and she couldn't speak anymore.

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close; barely able to breathe through tears himself. If only…he stopped the thought to enjoy the moment. He had been waiting almost four thousand years for this day, when the love of his life would be safely in his arms again, and the Pillar of Cephiro was no more. He'd begun to think it would never come to be, and now that it had, he wasn't able to think of much of anything except to stay still, with her in his arms, feasting on the sweetness of his success.

Fuu and Hikaru watched in a strange trance, somewhere between overwhelmed and elated. The enemy was dead, and Cephiro was at peace, but who was this strange man, and what did it mean for Umi?

"Ascot," Hikaru murmured, and Fuu nodded, but neither had any desire to break up the strange moment.

The only thing that stirred the two was when the entire throne room began to crumble, and Caldar knew they had to escape before Mala's world collapsed with them inside it. He looked back to the two other Magic Knights, itching to grab Umi's hand, but knowing he couldn't, "Imagine the Palace of Cephiro and run forward, don't let anything else into your head."

Fuu and Hikaru nodded, and Umi smiled weakly as all three closed their eyes, pictured the shining Palace of Cephiro and began to sprint forward. The last thing to be taken from Mala's world was the evil throne, and with it, all the threat of her reign had ended.

* * *

Umi flicked her eyes open and smiled. They were back, the enemy was defeated, and everything was finally okay again. She sighed heavily and leaned by to stretch, but realized there was a heavy weight against her chest. She cocked her head slightly and looked down, only to see Ascot was lying there, just regaining consciousness, "Oh my God," she whispered and pulled on his shoulders, so he shook his head and looked up at her, eyes full of confusion and disorientation. "What happened? Ascot? What's wrong?" she questioned as Fuu and Hikaru turned to look at her, their excitement sliding off their faces.

_Why is she…_Caldar stopped mid-thought and realized that, though he had taken his own form in Mala's world, here he was still in someone else's body. He groaned inwardly and forced himself to sit up even though Umi's hands against his arms warmed blood that had been cold for years. "I…uh…"

"Knights," Clef strode into the room, and Caldar nodded at him.

"Right on time."

The Guru smiled faintly and then turned his attention back to the three girls, "I assume, because you are back slightly early, that you were successful?"

Three head bobs and a few joyous shouts later, Clef slammed his staff on the ground and quieted them, "That's very good; I can already feel my health returning to me; whatever evil in Cephiro has passed, for now."

"What do you mean, for now?" Umi huffed, swelling up and glaring at him indignantly. "What else do you have up your sleeve, shorty?"

Clef sighed heavily and forced himself to take the insult with no comment, "I believe, _Water Knight,_ that that would be most appropriately explained by Prince Caldar."

"So that _was_ who he was," Fuu mumbled to herself, and Clef smiled at her cleverness even though the other two were sending him blank stares. "That strange man, who saved you Umi-san," Fuu explained quickly, and Umi's eyes widened in remembrance. Yes, that strange man, he was a Prince? But how could that be? And why did she feel so drawn to him?

Caldar cleared his throat, and all three girls were thrown back into reality, "I uh…well, I _am_ Prince Caldar," he was surprised to sound so unsure of himself, but he guessed it was the stress and the battle and the information that was still gnawing at his brain.

"How?" Hikaru whispered, "You sure look like Ascot to me."

He nodded, blushing softly, a very Ascot-like gesture, yet not completely the same. Umi watched him carefully, and knew he couldn't be Ascot. He was sitting casually on her bed, one hand lying on hers, but he didn't seem to notice, and that wasn't causing the blush. He was too natural around her to be Ascot, but then…how was he so casual with a stranger when he didn't seem to be comfortable under Hikaru and Fuu's penetrating gaze?

"I possessed his body," Caldar started, but couldn't get past his fourth word, because the tirade Clef had expected came, and Fuu and Hikaru could only wince with the impact of Umi's words.

"You did what?" she shrieked, ripping away from him, leaping from the bed to stand and face him, "How? And why? That's not yours for the taking, what makes you think you can just have his body? And where is he? I swear if you hurt him you'll seriously pay, and if you didn't, you'd better give his body back to him! You can't just _take_ someone else's body!" her fists clenched, and they all knew she was about to draw her sword, despite her fatigue. The thing that stopped her was a pert impact to her head caused by Clef's staff. Maliciously, she spun on the Master Mage, met his raging blue eyes, and withdrew.

"Do you honestly think that I would let someone simply _have_ the body of one of my students?" he demanded fiercely, leaving Umi spluttering for words. Finally, she relented and took a nervous seat next to Caldar, waiting for him to explain himself.

* * *

_"Well, well, well, what have we here?" King Taro's voice smirked, a vicious sound, full of resentment and mild amusement. "It seems that my reject of a son really _did_ manage to find and kill Mala and take the Water Knight as his prize."_

_Ascot's heart sank, what was that supposed to mean? Umi seriously wouldn't have fallen for someone that quickly, there was no way; he'd been chasing her for years! He tried not to let himself get too upset, but his hopes were dying every minute spent in this isolation. And that thief had his body! What if he never chose to give it back; was there a way that he could somehow _take _it, by force? _

_"I suppose that'll be his happily ever after then," Taro finished and sighed, "well, back to work on the seals."_

I could,_Ascot__ pondered, but stopped himself. _No, that's wrong. He's a greater evil than he was before, and he did enough damage then. I just want Umi to be happy, I guess. I just always thought it could be with me, but…_he tried to make himself think noble thoughts, but it just wasn't in him. He hated the selfishness and jealousy that tore through him, but he was only human, and he was in love. He couldn't just give up! But he couldn't resort to destroying all of Cephiro for her either. There had to be another way; there just had to be.

* * *

_

"But Mala's dead now, so you can give Ascot his body back," Umi informed Caldar calmly, crossing her nimble arms over her chest, and giving him the most thorough stare down he'd ever received in his life. It seemed that the Prince of Cephiro wasn't the only one who had changed since his time.

Caldar nodded, "I could, if Mala were the only problem. But, she's not. Actually, she wasn't much of the problem at all. Mala wasn't your real enemy; my father is, and his seals are loosening everyday. If he is freed, I don't know what he will do to Cephiro, or to you," he directed this at Umi, who involuntarily shuddered and snapped her jaw shut to whatever smart comment she was about to make.

"What can we do?" Fuu asked softly, and the Prince sighed and closed his eyes.

"First he'll need a body. When he breaks free he'll only be a spirit, and spirits can't live very long on their own. He'll need a body, and he'll probably want one with strong magical capabilities, but any body will do."

Fuu chewed on the information, and then decided there was only one course of action, "What if one of us offered him their body, and fought him internally?"

Caldar's eyes shot open; it seemed he hadn't thought of that, "The prison would be destroyed, so the spirit wouldn't have anywhere to flee to, yet…I suppose if that person were to offer to work _with_ my father, it might work. Internal sabotage, but, he won't take a female body, not when he hungers after Umi so much. It'll have to be a male."

"I'll do it," the voice from the doorway made them all look, and there was Eagle, leaning casually against the doorframe, staring right into Hikaru's eyes as her mouth ran dry.

"Eagle," she whispered, choking on his name, begging with her eyes to reconsider.

"No, Eagle, I will go," Clef offered, but Eagle shook his head.

"I can't allow you to do that Guru," he responded as he strode into the room and took a seat on Hikaru's bed. "If something happens, I need to be sure that there is someone with enough magical ability to banish whatever is inside of me, and if you can't do it with magic, Lantis and Ferio will be here to do it with sword. I wouldn't expect you to have to do something so drastic Fire Faerie," he cupped Hikaru's face in his hand and forced his way into her trembling red eyes, making sure that she understood. They battled like that for what seemed like ages, until Hikaru nodded her consent, lowering her eyes as tears slipped from them, and Eagle wiped them away and pulled her into his arms.

But no one could argue with his logic, and after Hikaru agreed, no one would dare.

"Very well," Caldar sighed, "then we have only to wait. When I am better rested I will probe the seals with my magic and see how much time there is left until they weaken. After they collapse, I'll be able to tell, because it was my magic that set them. Father will immediately begin the search, and I will instruct you how to make yourself vulnerable and obvious. There will be things he'll look for, and I know what they are, so that we'll be sure he chooses you. From there, I can only tell you you'll need to rely on your own wits and magic. He's very strong; you probably won't be able to simply overpower him. I do hope you're clever."

Eagle smiled wanly, "I try my best."

Hikaru's grip on him tightened, and he gave her a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"In the meantime, we should do what we can to get to know our enemy," Clef stated, and they all agreed.

"But…what about Ascot?" Umi voiced quietly, and Caldar turned Ascot's green eyes on her.

"I…do not know what will happen to him after the seals break. I will stay in his body only long enough to ensure that my father is dead, and then I will fade away, but…if he fades before that…I cannot say I won't be tempted to keep the body of a dead spirit."

Umi gulped heavily when he looked at her like that, so desperate and hungry, drawing her forward, yet repulsing her with his words. That was Ascot he was talking about, her Ascot! "He's strong," she told him, setting her jaw. "He'll last, as long as you keep your word."

"You have my word as a Prince of Cephiro," he swore, and Umi rolled her eyes, but nodded and the two shook on it, though he held her hand a little too long, and kept her eyes the entire time.

_I shouldn't feel this way about a woman that isn't even the same one I knew. Yet…there's a part of my Umi in there, there's a part of every Water Knight that has ever been in her body, she just doesn't know it. She feels it; I know she does. _

_But she feels something for the spirit who belongs to this body as well, _the other part of his mind reminded him, _you could hear it in her voice when she spoke to you. _He wanted to tell this part of his mind to shut up, but knew he couldn't deny it. There was definitely something deeper to the emotions of the Water Knight, and as much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn't interfere with that. He closed his eyes and shut off the devious part of his body that was lusting after the beautiful girl before him, making sure that his desires didn't get the best of him. There were still things to be done.

* * *

A/n: Sorry, this really isn't edited, I just had to finish it before I went away. Please forgive me, I'm extremely busy with packing and last minute preparations, but I didn't want anyone to think I'd disappeared again, so...yeah...talk to you all when I get home! 


	10. The Temptations of Becoming One

A/n: Um…not edited, at all. Sorry, I just finished it and now I'm on my way to go and see The New World, but I wanted to get up before I got too lazy and just let it rot on my computer. Anyway, I hope that you're not all so angry at me that I don't get a review, even a mean one?

Chapter Ten: The Temptations of Becoming One

"I'm scared Eagle," Hikaru confessed that night when they were sitting in the living room alone, waiting by the fire. His eyes were locked on the flames, trying his best to stay out of the dark places that haunted him and keep the moment fresh in his mind. If he were to die, he wanted to die with her on his thoughts.

"I know, so am I," he answered her, turning his eyes away from the leaping beauty, only to be blinded by the beauty of its master. He let his eyes caress her body with gentle looks, and she blushed under his thorough examination, which only made him that much bolder. "But you saved my life, what seems so long ago, and I owe it to you and to Cephiro. There's no other way to save this world, and without it, we wouldn't be together, like this, right now."

Hikaru heard the wisdom in his words, but somehow, that didn't make it any better. She silently wondered how Fuu stood it, all this confounded logic! She didn't want to have to be strong anymore, but she knew she had to, and she hated it. All she wanted to do was be at peace.

"We're almost there," Eagle told her softly, as if he was reading her thoughts, and truthfully, he was thinking the same. "As soon as this is over, we can be together, and Cephiro will be at peace, finally. Everything will work out in the end, have faith, love."

She smiled up at him and nodded firmly; he always replenished her strength, pushed her on when she thought that she could go no further. That was what she loved about him, so she would trust that he would be strong enough to come back to her, despite the corruption that would live inside him, "Promise you'll come back to me," she pleaded, and his look sobered, and he turned back to the fire.

"You know I can't, Hikaru-chan," he whispered softly, tears welling in his voice. "But I swear to you," here, he snapped back to her, staring at her fiercely, defying every god he could think of, defying the Will of Cephiro itself, "that if there is any strength in my spirit at all, it will be only because of you, to get back to you. I don't know if my resilience will serve me well where I'm going, but I know that I will stop at nothing to come home to you, not even at death."

His words took her breath away, and it was just as well, because she didn't want to continue the conversation. She only wanted to be with her Eagle, on their last night together. She didn't know that then, but she had a feeling, and she wanted to cherish this moment, for as long as she could. So she clung to him; he felt so _real_, and his heartbeat echoed in her ears, his kisses were more fiery than the fire in front of them, and when they finally fell asleep beside one another, Hikaru knew in her heart that he was strong enough, and he would save Cephiro and come back to her. She had that hope burning inside her, and she wouldn't let anything destroy it, not even the most impossible circumstance, because that was what Eagle loved about her, and she wasn't going to forsake it now; it was his strength.

* * *

"Today," Caldar's words in Ascot's voice seemed strange to Umi's ears. For once, Ascot was standing in front of a crowd of people, in front of all the power in Cephiro, and he was not blushing, he was not afraid. In fact, it looked almost as if he belonged there. _Of course, that's because he's _not _Ascot,_ Umi reminded herself, and took another look at the foreign Prince in Ascot's body. _I'm so confused_.

"Today what?" she snapped, mainly frustrated with herself, because she couldn't even work out her own feelings let alone confront an ancient Prince. So she hid it all behind a mask of aggression, just like she'd always done. The only one she'd ever been soft to was Ascot, and…her heart burned, and she changed her train of thought back to the preparation before them. There was too much to do, she didn't have time to act the fickle girl. She was a warrior of Cephiro, and there wasn't much time.

"He'll break free today," Caldar answered, looking sadly into Umi's eyes, then turning back to Eagle, who was nodding firmly, Hikaru clinging desperately to his arm.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Ferio asked Eagle gently, but Eagle just nodded, looking a little bit green, and followed Caldar into another room to learn what he was to do to attract the dead King's attention.

Hikaru slunk to the floor, sobbing hysterically, and Umi and Fuu rushed to her side, and all thoughts of her own problems faded from Umi's mind. Her dearest friend was suffering, and that was all that mattered, protecting her from this unknown evil. She looked after the two that were fading into the hallway, and Eagleglanced behind him, his eyes full of concern for Hikaru. Umi's eyes locked on his, and he smiled at her weakly, but she didn't return it, instead, she faced him with a strong, threatening stare. _You'd better come back for her,_ shewarned in her mind, and he seemed to understand, because he nodded beforeslowly pivotingaround and focusing back on Caldar.

"It'll be okay Hikaru-san," Fuu was whispering into Hikaru's hair. "He'll be back; he'll be okay."

"But what if he's not?" Hikaru demanded through muffled sobs. "What if he doesn't? What will I be without him?"

Umi grabbed her shoulders and forced ruby to meet sapphire, "You will be our best friend and a Magic Knight of Cephiro," she answered sternly, and Hikaru's eyes widened, and then refocused. Slowly, she pulled herself to her feet, still leaning slightly on the two for support and then faced the Master Mage.

"What do we have to do?"

* * *

"_Ah ha!" Taro shrieked in triumph, and Ascot_ _winced at the volume of the maddening howl. _

"_What are you going on ab-", but he didn't have time to finish, because he found himself sucked up into a vortex, a swirling whirlwind of magic so intense he didn't have any way to defend himself. All he could do was hold his breath and wait for the magic to carry him away. It rose up aroundTaro and himand carried them into it, so all he could see were flecks of gold from Taro and darkness. It was cold, very cold, even though he had no body it gripped him, one of those colds that you can feel inside and out, something that goes deeper thananything physical. And just when he thought he could take no more, the cold and the dark began to fade, and for the first time in what seemed like years, he saw color. Brilliant, beautiful colors, and then they turned to images, images that he recognized. They were in the Palace_ _of Cephiro, floating in the throne room. If he had had eyes tears would have brimmed in them, because there were the thrones of Ferio and Fuu, and the tapestries of the triumphs of the Magic Knights took on a new vibrant beauty. Everything was so tangible, but…he stopped. Why didn't he have a body? Frantically, he searched for Taro and found him, a black and gold globe that moved easily through the room, more like a tiny absence of light thanthe flicker of light that Ascot was. _

_And then he stopped, as if he was listening to something, and a sick feeling of triumph filled the room while Taro changed directions abruptly and headed for the door. Ascot, realizing that something evil was afoot, and recognizing for the first time since he'd been out of his cell that something truly horrible was loose in Cephiro, did the only thing he could think to do – he followed him.

* * *

_

It didn't take Eagle much to create the emotions that Caldar had told him to create, considering they were fear and uncertainty. He probably would have been a target even if he hadn't been intended to be a target, because fear tore through him like a hurricane. And that image of his love, sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out, that was enough to tear him to shreds all by itself. _I'm doing this to save her,_ he reassured himself, then stopped the thought, because he felt something nearing, something that felt a lot like evil, but something he couldn't see. _So, it begins_. And without another thought, he began to bring up the most terrifying moments in his life, all draped by that picture of Hikaru, crying because of a love she thought might be lost. That was enough, in an instant, that evil was filling him, cloaking him in its madness, so he was almost sure he would get lost in it, but he fought back viciously, _I'll work with you, but you cannot have my body,_ he told the presence, showing a little of his own magic. _Together we can be powerful,_ the offer made his skin crawl, especially when the presence smiled inside him and agreed.

_But I get the body,_ a cold, hard voice, plagued with sickness and insanity, told him, and Eagle's eyes widened. He had expected this, Caldar had prepared him for it, but experiencing it was something quite different. It was as if he was being locked up inside himself. He could see everything, feel everything, but he couldn't control himself. Suddenly, someone else took the reins of his body, and he was merely an advisor to the evil that lurked inside him.

"Better," the smug words were not his own, though he felt his mouth moving. Taro raised his new arms toward the ceiling and smiled victoriously. "Now, to find my Queen."

* * *

_Ascot_ _watched it all in a cold horror. He watched Eagle lose his body to this mad King, watched as he raised his hands to the ceiling in a twisted victory, and then heard the words he had been dreading since he'd become a captive in that cold prison. He was off to find his Queen, and the Palu had the most horrible feeling that that meant Umi. If this was truly the King from the legends, the one who had been driven mad by jealousy when the Water Knight fell for his son instead of him, then he surely meant Umi. And poor, unsuspecting Hikaru! He lamented inwardly at the thought as he raced through the Palace trying to find them._

_Finally, he came upon the three girls, sitting silently in the living room, Clef beside them, as if waiting for something. Lantis paced nearbywhile Primera watched him anxiously, Presea was sitting in front of Hikaru, trying to drive her eyes into those of the Fire Knight, trying to force comfort on her. Umi and Hikaru both had their hands on the Fire Knight's, offering her words of weak solace. And then he saw himself, standing in the corner, watching silently, cloaked in darkness. Or, at least, it was his body, though he was obviously not in it, and a whole new feeling of betrayal and hurt washed over him. Caldar was supposed to be the legendary hero who had protected the Knights and his country even at loss of himself! But Ascot_ _found he was nothing more than a coward, usurping his body and stealing the love of his life. Rage boiled in him so he had to push it down with every piece of strength left in him. _I have to warn the girls, _he coached himself. _I can save Caldar for later. _But when he opened his voice to speak, there was no sound, and no one in the room seemed to see him at all, even though he was sure he was a glowing green fleck of light. _Of course, _he thought miserably to himself,_ I don't have a body, how are they going to see me? _He looked around the room for any form of help, and found that his own eyes lit upon him, and Caldar stepped forward. Ascot_ _cursed himself for cowardice as he found himself floating backward, and then stopped, ready to fight whatever Caldar threw at him in any way he could._

"You must be Ascot," he said out loud, and Umi's eyes shot up, the other two following suit only a fraction of a second behind her.

_Ascot moved up and down as a sort of nod, and Caldar offered another grim smile._

"I know this is not good, the way things are looking," Caldar began, stopping to wait for another nod, but Ascot wouldn't suffer the indignity of humoring this traitor of all Cephiro. "But it isn't what it seems. I didn't exactly _steal_ your body, just happened upon it. You see, my father is now on the loose, and no one would have stood a chance without me. The type of magic we use is so old that no one, not even the Master Mage could have predicted his movements. As you can see, I'm the only one who can see _you;_ that's just one of a million things that were forgotten in the years since I reigned here. So you see, to protect Cephiro, I needed your body, but now that the prison is broken, and our plan is in place, you have only to wait long enough for me to see this out, and then you may have your body back, and I will go in peace. I don't intend to rob you of this thing that was never mine to steal, you understand?"

_Ascot_ _nodded grudgingly. As arrogant as this Caldar was, there was strength, sense and authority in his words, and he knew it would be futile to protest. If there had been words to say, he wouldn't have been able to speak them anyway, so he wasn't about to even try. _

"Good, I am glad to see that you see reason even when you have been wronged so greatly. But I must warn you, without a body, you will not be able to last long, and I fear that you may not last as long as the battle that will take place in the man called Eagle. I would gladly give up residence in this body if I did not fear Taro's magic. You see, when two people reside in the same body for too long, both their power is weakened, and I will need to be at my full strength if Taro should manage to vanquish Eagle," Caldar explained coolly, despite Hikaru's slight shudder.

_Ascot_ _winced, but he agreed, he knew that if something went wrong there would have to be someone there to counter Taro's magic, and if Caldar did it once he could probably do it again. He looked at Hikaru and sent all his heart to her; she was struggling to remain calm, but her whole body shook in apprehension. He could only imagine what kind of torture she was going through as they spoke of the imminent death of her lover. _So, _he thought sadly to himself,_ Eagle meant for Taro to find him, that makes more sense, otherwise, he would have fought long and hard for control of his body. More than I can say for myself. _He pushed the self-pity away and focused his attention back on Caldar who was again speaking, though in his own voice. That was something Ascot_ _was unprepared for, Caldar speaking in his voice. He'd never seen or heard himself like this before, and now that he had, he started to criticize himself even more. _Do I really sound like that? _He groaned inwardly. _My hair is ridiculous, but I do look better without that hat. What am I thinking? There's things to be done, and I'm worry about my own fashion sense! _He would have laughed if he could. So Taro's madness was spreading, was it? _

"It's a piece of old magic," Caldar went on, and Ascot forced himself to listen attentively, "Taro can't possibly be aware of it, because he's never inhabited another's body. He'll think the opposite is true, that if two people occupy the same body he can control both their magic; that's what made Eagle such a prime target."

"But what about physical strength?" Umi inquired weakly, raising her large sapphire eyes to look at Caldar, and Ascot saw her in a new light.

_He was struck by the vitality of her beauty; it was as if he'd never seen her before. Did she look at him like that, or were those eyes saved for Caldar? He cursed his fickleness but couldn't turn away from her, the way she stared at him, with suchlonging and admiration, as if he was the only one in the world. Was he imagining it, or was she fidgeting? And why was Caldar taking so long to respond? How dare he look at her like _that_, through _his _eyes! _

"I believe it wouldn't be affected," Caldar answered slowly, turning his head slightly to one side to see what she was getting at.

"And would he be safe, in someone else's body?" Umi continued. "They could share it, right?"

"Yes," Caldar drew the word out, "but for a limited time only. No one can occupy the same body forever; it's impossible, it defies death."

"But for awhile!" Umi protested, and he nodded, touching his hand to his chin curiously.

"Yes, it is possible."

"Then he can stay in mine, until you leave his," Umi stated blankly, sending everyone in the room for a loop.

"Umi-san, what are you saying?" Fuu demanded, "We all love Ascot, and no one wants to see him hurt, but who's to say he won't last?"

"Who's to say he will?" Umi countered, and Fuu withdrew, knowing what Umi must be going through.

"But Umi-chan," Hikaru's voice was a little shock of light in a dark world, despite the agony in it, "if something happens to-to Eagle," she choked over the word and had to gather herself before she could continue, "I can't. I won't be able to…you know. And they'll need you, _all_ of you."

Umi knelt down in front of Hikaru and wrapped her hands over both of Hikaru's, "He won't fail Hikaru," she told the girl firmly, bringing a new confidence to her eyes and a smile to her face. "And if he does," she said this quieter, as if she didn't believe it herself, "and if he does, I'll have my full strength, and they'll have their magic. There are enough of us to do this without my magic."

Hikaru nodded, ever so slowly, and Umi turned to where Caldar seemed to be facing, assuming Ascot was there.

"What do I need to do?"

Caldar shook his head at her, "Close your eyes," he whispered, and Umi obeyed immediately.

_From nearby, Ascot watched as she gave up part of her body to him, as he felt the magic flow through him once more, not dark or cold this time, but deep blue and refreshing, like the ocean on a hot day. Her magic beat through him as his body was drawn into her, and he was close to her, like he'd never been before. Everything smelled of her, tasted of her, he was full to the brim with her life, her beauty, her everything. He wrapped himself in her and wanted to stay right where he was forever, but that feeling frightened him, because for the first time, he realized the temptation that had to be overcome. He wanted Umi's body, wanted to be a part of her, probably like Caldar wanted his own. This was an evil spell they were working, and even in the name of good, it was still evil, and he knew he would have to be on his guard while he was here. So he set up his barriers, reminded himself of who he was and made himself as comfortable as he could while instructing himself not to become _too _comfortable._

"Wow," Umi whispered softly. "It's like I'm two people at once," she admitted to the others. "I can feel everything the same about myself, but there's this added presence, that's just…it feels like Ascot."

"That's because it is," Caldar told her sadly, trying to keep his head high even though his heart wept for the loss. He closed his eyes slowly and looked back at the beautiful Water Knight that was no longer his prize and wondered how deep her love for this Palu ran. Would she take her own life if she lost him too, was that why she feared losing him? "Come, Taro will be looking for you, let us cut him off while we still can."


End file.
